Thank you for visiting my fundraising page! About 10 years ago I first became aware of the amazing work by Youth Homes in Montana. My involvement began by “accident” when I decided to run my first marathon. Many races link runners with participating non-profits. This provides a platform for charities to raise awareness and funds, as well as educate others about their cause.

One of the Missoula Marathon charities is Youth Homes. By joining the Run4Kids Team that first year, I agreed to raise a modest amount of money in exchange for my entry fee.

It seemed simple enough until I learned about what this organization does and the children that benefit from these services.  Admittedly, I was beyond naïve about the suffering of so many children in our community – after all, my focus has been animals.  As I began to meet the kids and learn about the neglect, abuse, and absence of personal safety, my mission became to raise as much money as I could in what I made a 7 month “fundraising season.”

 Since 1971, Youth Homes has helped over 12,000 children and adolescents who have suffered from neglect, abuse, and emotional trauma. By providing emergency shelter, foster care, group homes, adoption services, and counseling, Youth Homes has provided a safe environment for kids to heal and build healthy relationships.

In my mind, this fundraiser is more than taking care of the physical and emotional needs of these kids. It is also a way to fund extracurricular activities such as camping, rafting, music lessons, etc. And while not high on the priority list of the kids, I want them to know that they are important to me….to us.

I have some amazing friends who have continued to support this fundraiser by donating money and items year after year.  I can never thank them enough for recognizing how important this is to the future of these children.  Thank you for reading this and for any amount you can donate to help.