Our Friend Bethany Could Use A Little DBR Help

One of our favorite DBR pals is Bethany Peters. She’s really the coolest. She’s smart and funny and passionate about many things including Duke basketball, math and her faith.

Oh, and economics. Listen, no one’s perfect.

Bada bing!

Anyway, Bethany is going to run in the Chicago Marathon and her motivation is to raise money to help kids in Africa get clean drinking water.

She could use some sponsors and we figured maybe we could help a bit. Won’t you consider contributing?

We can say it our way but she says it much better:

I didn’t mean to do it. It caught me by surprise. I was doing something on my phone after church; when I looked up, I was in a meeting about running with Team World Vision in the Chicago Marathon on October 13th. If I had known they were gathering after church, I wouldn’t have stayed. I almost got up and walked out, but the person persuading us to join the team was so compelling. “You will make new friends; you will get in shape; you will be part of something bigger than yourself.” I had been seeking all these things. Training for and running the Chicago Marathon on Team World Vision could address multiple shortcomings in my life. And I signed up then and there.

But then there are my knees. I have had multiple knee surgeries on both knees (both menisci, ACL) over the past 10 years. I’ve never raced any distance farther than a 5k. How am I going to run 26.2 miles? I am scared to death. At our first group run, the initial advice of the team leader was: don’t do the math. Don’t do the math? I was a math major; all I do is calculate things. I will be trusting God to protect my knees and give me the endurance to run with perseverance the race marked out for me.

Nearly 1,000 children under age 5 die every day from diarrhea caused by contaminated water, poor sanitation, and improper hygiene. Six kilometers, a little more than 3.7 miles, is the average distance round trip women and children in the developing world walk for water — water that is often contaminated with life-threatening diseases. I can do this math though: through World Vision, the average cost of providing clean, lasting water to one person is $50. I am raising $10,000, which will provide clean water to 200 children. Will you consider contributing toward that goal?

Thanks,

Bethany