Why I'm running for HealthEd Connect

One of the main reasons I'm running this race that starts at 8500 feet of elevation is to raise awareness for the organization HealthEd Connect. 


HealthEd Connect's mission is to empower women and children through evidence-based health, education, and advocacy programs.  HealthEd Connect focuses it's attention on orphans and vulnerable children in some of the poorest countries in the world.  I have been on the board of directors since it began and I continue to be impressed with the work being done by this small but mighty and growing organization.   I encourage you all to read more about this organization at healthedconnect.org

There are several reasons why Karyn and I support HealthEd Connect

1. Community Health Workers - The cornerstone of HealthEd Connect has been the focus on educating and empowering community health workers that work tirelessly to improve the health of the communities where they live.   Community health workers are seen by the World Health Organization as part of the solution to the global health crisis that disproportionately impacts the poor.   Long before HealthEd Connect was formed. . . over 20 years ago . . . our executive director, Sherri Kirkpatrick began training and supporting community health workers in several countries.   It is these volunteer community health workers in Zambia, Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Nepal that are the driving force behind the programs that HealthEd Connect supports.    They are the ones that identified that the biggest need in their communities is to provide education, nutrition and support to the many orphans and vulnerable children who have experienced devastating losses to the ravages of AIDS.  

2. Sustainability - One of the guiding principles of HealthEd Connect centers around sustainability.  We don't want to come into communities, tell the people what they need, give it to them and then leave.  Instead,  "the foundation for our programs is participatory research (PR) conducted by community health workers (CHW) and local leaders. PR empowers people from the beginning since they are totally involved and “the experts” from the start. It increases self-esteem, self-confidence, increased status for women and prepares leaders for tomorrow." - healthedconnect.org.   

3. Big Impact - HealthEd Connect is a small organization with lofty goals.   Donation dollars have a bigger impact because of this.   They also have a bigger impact because currently 93% of the budget goes directly to providing programs to the communities where HealthEd Connect is located.   I recently came across this article which highlighted the 50 worst charities in the US.  Not all charitable organizations use over 90% of their funds towards programs and it is important to support organizations where most of the money is used for what the organization is focused on.     

4. Superb leadership -  HealthEd Connect's cofounders Sherri and Jac Kirkpatrick have many years of experience of working in the countries where HealthEd Connect currently operates.   They get how to run this type of organization and are always looking for ways to learn from the community health workers and other volunteers associated with HealthEd Connect.  They have also assembled a diverse board of directors that have the energy and desire to grow HealthEd Connect over the coming years.   The passion of those involved coupled with the high level of expertise is a big reason why I've chosen to support HealthEd Connect and have to decided to share it with others.  



As I said earlier, I'm running this race to raise awareness for HealthEd Connect.   I'm also running to raise money to help support the difference this organization makes in the lives of orphans and vulnerable children in the nations of Zambia, Malawi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nepal.  I've set the goal of $2000.00 and am hopeful that in the next 40 days I'll be able to get there.   If I were better at this blog thing, I'd make a cool graphic or something showing our progress.   We'll see if I can figure that out.

So if you're interested in sponsoring me, please click here.  At this point, it appears that the drop-down menu doesn't list my run as one of the options.  This should get fixed when our HealthEd Connect team returns from their current trip to Zambia.   When the drop down menu is fixed, I'll be sure to post about it.   In the meantime, if you want to donate, go for it.  You can let me know you did at jeffreydmanuel@gmail.com so I can add your donation to the grand total.

Whether you sponsor me or not, I would love it if you spend some time learning about the organization at our website healthedconnect.org

Thanks for taking the time to read.   I have to get to bed so I can run eight 400 repeats tomorrow morning at 6 AM.

Addendum: The link is up and running now.  If you want to donate, go to www.healthedconnect.org and click on the button pay now or follow this link.   You'll see "Jeff's run for healthy kids" in the purpose of gift  drop down menu.