(This is from our man–Eric!)
Hey everyone. School/life is going great down here in Virginia. I have met some fantastic people and I wanted to share an experience I had with y’all this past week.
I went with a group of students from the Newman Community to the Food Bank for Feeding America this past Saturday. We worked with a guy named James who was great and soooo happy for all the help he got. All we did were simple tasks such as sorting food, checking for defects on cans, etc. There was a bunch of us, so it wasn’t like each of us individually had a significant impact in preparing the food to be ready to go out by Monday, but the sum of our contributions was amazing and James told us that a lot of the food we were packing would be dinner for several people Monday night! That’s crazy quick turnover. It’s amazing what a group of people can do.
This brings me to the second topic of my post, Terry Fox. I just found out about this guy a couple years ago and the more I find out about him, the more I really appreciate what he did. Terry Fox was a Canadian and college basketball player. At the age of 19, he developed cancer in one of his legs and had to have it amputated. He had an artificial leg made, and determined not to be set back in life by his injury, he decided to run a marathon.
He completed the marathon, and afterwards he decided he was going to try and run ACROSS CANADA to raise money for cancer research, because he believed a cure could be found. He initially hoped to raise one million dollars for cancer, and he planned to run about twenty-six miles every day. As he started running, people began to be inspired and this led Terry to reset his goal to raise twenty-four million dollars (one dollar for every Canadian). If you have never seen video of him running with his prosthetic leg, I highly recommend youtubing it. It is crazy how determined he was to run as much as he did with his condition.
After running 3,339 miles in 143 days he had to cut his run short because the cancer had come back and was starting to spread into his lungs. Terry Fox began treatment, but less than a year after he was diagnosed again he passed away. Before he died, his marathon of hope had raised twenty-three million dollars for cancer research and to this day over $500 million has been raised in his name. Terry Fox assembled a group of people who were all somehow inspired to help fight cancer and even though there is no cure yet, it is safe to say that Terry Fox and all those who have donated have helped make significant contributions towards a cure.
I have heard people tell me they are prolife and they support what Biking for Babies stands for, but say no matter how hard everyone tries there will never be an end to abortion. I cannot stand here and watch people kill innocent babies and just hope that someday things will change. Nor can I think that this is a pointless cause, just because some people say there will never be an end to abortion. Abortion can end! Terry Fox didn’t give up, and because of it he inspired a nation. We don’t all need to go to the efforts that Terry Fox went to, but we do need to stand up for the injustices in our lifetime.
Please join us in protecting the most defenseless and help unborn babies and their mothers however you are capable of helping out whether it is through prayers, donation, or service. After all you never know how you might inspire.