Friday Finds

I thought it would be nice to 'end' the week by telling you of a few people doing good things and a few ways you can help others. Let's start the weekend on a good note!

NYRR and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation are co-sponsoring the 4 mile run/walk in Central Park on February 24th! "All entry fees collected by NYRR will go to New York City’s Haiti Relief Fund, administered by the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, which is directing 100% of donations to reputable organizations providing relief in Haiti." The very cool thing about this race is that you don't have to be in New York to run it! They have set up a virtual race so anyone around the world can participate! Entry fees are $40 for those running/walking in Central Park and $30 for those doing the virtual race. For those of you who care, it is both a scored and NYC Marathon qualifying race. Go here for more info and to register. Is your community holding a charity race or other event? Feel free to comment and let us know!

On another running note, there are a lot of groups across the country that raise money for charities through running in specific events. Team in Training and Live Strong are probably two of the largest. Another one is Team for Kids. It is the charity running group associated with the New York Road Runners Youth Programs, raising money for, you guessed it, youth running programs around the country and in South Africa. The two races each year for Team for Kids are the NYC Half Marathon and the ING NYC Marathon. I'm a member of the NYRR Young Professionals Committee, which also raises money for the youth programs. If you're interested in information about the running programs and how to get them into schools in you area, you can read about it here.

In 2007, Jessamyn Waldman, a human rights and immigration policy expert who had worked for the UN and now was a Master Baker, founded Hot Bread Kitchen, a non-profit enterprise dedicated to helping immigrant women in the NYC community. With 66% of low wage workers in NYC being immigrants and most of the women finding jobs as domestic workers, Jessamyn had a vision to create a better life for them. Inspired by the diverse population in the city and the desire to both preserve tradition and help immigrant women, Hot Bread Kitchen meets this goal. The women who participate in the program are able to share their baking traditions as well as learn those of the other participants, advance their English language skills, and are provided with job placement assistance and join a network of strong and self-confident women who are encouraged to then begin their own businesses. While the bakery strives to use local and organic ingredients, the breads are sold in specialty stores around the city and region. It's a pretty fantastic and unique organization.

This picture was taken for the Food & Wine (Nov '09) feature taken by Zubin Schroff.

Last for today, you may have noticed in my 'links' box on the right, a link to an organization called Friends of Maddie. Maddie was a beautiful little girl who touched thousands of lives. She is the daughter of two amazing people who I am lucky to call my friends, Heather and Mike, and was brought into this world much too early on Nov 11, 2007. I've spoken about her before, but I believe you can't talk about her and her incredible parents enough. They have all shown super hero amounts of strength over the last 3 years and continue to inspire countless people. Maddie left us all too early last spring but is remembered every day. Heather and Mike were overwhelmed by the support they received from family, friends and the blogging community after Maddie's passing and were able to start a charity in her name. Because Maddie spent many of her first months in the NICU, they decided to start a charity to help families who were faced with the same ordeal. Through care packages and support, they are reaching families across the country. Please visit this site if you'd like to learn more or to donate. I also encourage you to check out Heather's blog. Heather and Mike are celebrating the arrival of Maddie's little sister, Annabel!! I will leave you today of two pictures of beautiful little girls.

The Famous Madeline

Amazing Annabel

Have a great day!