World Vision seeks 1,000 runners for the 2008 Chicago Marathon after a remarkable fundraising achievement in this year's event.

October 2007

By James Addis, World Vision Advocacy & Communications

Scorching conditions at this year's Chicago Marathon on Oct. 7 failed to prevent Team World Vision runners from raising more than $500,000 for impoverished communities in Africa.

The success of the fundraising venture has prompted World Vision to seek more than 1,000 marathon runners for the 2008 event, with a goal of raising more than $1 million for Africa's poor. The Team World Vision program allows participants to create personal Web sites where family and friends can pledge financial support for the runners.

High Temperatures, But Higher Determination

This month, about 500 runners donned the bright orange Team World Vision colors for the marathon, braving oppressive humidity and temperatures that reached 88 degrees — the hottest on record for the 30-year-old event. Still, the adverse conditions failed to curb the enthusiasm of the exhausted runners as they staggered into the Team World Vision tent for post-event refreshments.

"This is one of the top ten things I have ever done in my life," said Dan McGraw, 41, a Naperville, Ill., media consultant, who personally raised more than $3,000.

The fastest Team World Vision woman runner, 29-year-old Ginny Hodel, said she was delighted her time of 3:35:55 would qualify her for the Boston Marathon, but she drew even more satisfaction knowing that her efforts would help the poor.

"I joined Team World Vision because it was a better cause than just running for myself," she said.

Her sentiment was echoed by Eric Flood, 33, who achieved a time of 3:17:23 and was among the first Team World Vision men to finish.

"It's important to understand the Christian gospel is holistic. It's about meeting the needs of the whole person, both physical and spiritual," he said, adding that it was exciting to run as part of a community with a common purpose, rather than in isolation.

'Strong Feeling of Connection'

Other runners were motivated by personal knowledge of the communities they would be helping.

Ten runners from Springcreek Community Church in Garland, Texas, together raised more than $10,000 for the Katito community in western Kenya, which struggles to access clean water and has hundreds of children with one or both parents who have died of AIDS. The church sponsors about 500 children in Katito through World Vision.

"Our members came because of their strong feeling of connection to these kids," said Keith Stewart, 45, Springcreek's pastor who was among the church's runners.

Looking Ahead to 2008

Team World Vision organizer Michael Chitwood said the only disappointment of the day was the large number of runners unable to complete the event as planned when officials closed down the second half of the course after four hours. It was feared the number of runners collapsing from heat exhaustion would overwhelm emergency services.

"You were running for something bigger than the finish line," he told runners unable to complete the race.

Despite this unexpected drawback, enthusiasm for the event remains high, and Chitwood is confident World Vision can find more than 1,000 runners to tackle the marathon next year.