The Brian Muha Memorial Foundation

Hello Everyone!

It's been a very exciting summer already at Run the Race! We kicked off the first day of summer break with a five day camping trip to the Red River Gorge in Kentucky with eleven of our middle school boys. We drank water we filtered from the stream, cooked all our meals over the fire, carried all of our rations in our hiking packs, swam, fished, hiked, canoed, dug latrines, caught and ate crawdads, learned how to set up tents and then decided to sleep by the fire, learned a lot about ourselves and each other, and somehow we all made it back alive!

Our focus this summer has been to get our Racers out of the neighborhood to give them a real break, not just from school, but from their often unhealthy environments, and their neighborhoods where there is the constant need to be tough. We have been taking them in small groups on a series of mini-field trips. We go to the pool, the library, the museum, city parks, fishing holes, the skating rink and the zoo. In these settings we have already begun to see great results.

On July 26th Sean Seggerson, who we are very thankful to have back with us again after graduating from Ohio University in the Spring, will be running a week long basketball camp for our kids at the center.He needs a lot of volunteers: coaching, preparing and serving food, and just helping out in general.

Also coming up is our biggest fund raising event of the year: The Brian Muha Memorial Golf Outing and Auction. It will be held at Bent Tree Golf Club in Sunbury, Ohio. If you would like to sign up there is more information on our website. Click on the "Golf Outing 2010" link. We will have a lot of great items to bid on at the auction, including great tickets to OSU vs. Michigan game! This is a very big day for our Foundation, and it is mainly through the funds we raise at the golf outing each year that we are able to feed the children, help the families, and continue the field trips and events that we have throughout the year. So we hope to see you there!

Also we have a few new faces helping out at Run the Race this summer. Jimmy Haring has been with us now for the last three months and was one of the brave few who survived our Kentucky camping trip this summer. During the school year he is a teacher at Wheaton Christian school, as well as a tutor, but we hope that he is able to continue on with us once school is back in session. We also have Monica D'Andrea, who is currently enrolled at Ohio State. In addition to being one of our star basketball coaches over the winter, she has come on with us this summer and will be specializing along with Jayme O'Brien, another devoted volunteer, in taking our middle schools girls on field trips. And Brian Rolle is back this year. He has taken on one of our Racers who not only needs intense tutoring but needs a good friend. He has found that in Brian. Brian is also mentoring two of our toughest Racers. He is accepting their rejection, their bad attitudes and more - trying to prove to them that love is unconditional. 

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Hello Everyone!! What a Spring we have had at Run The Race! Our Mini-Racers is in full swing and going much better than we ever could have hoped. School is winding down for the year and we are heading into what we hope will be a memorable and action-packed summer for the kids. Now for the big news of the month! Our good friend and Food Pantry Team Leader, Jeanne Dooley has a sister in Maryland who is a photographer. Her name is Mary Kemp. Mary came to Columbus for a visit last week and offered to take pictures of our Run The Racers! We hoped they would turn out well but we never could have anticipated just how beautiful and eloquent her photographs of our Racers would be! In just a few hours with the older children and the mini-racers she managed to find the very best and brightest side of each of them, and capture it for us and for each of their families. Mary and Jeanne rushed back and forth frantically for two days developing the pictures and putting them in frames for the children to take home. The kids were thrilled, and even the most reluctant smilers in front of the camera scrambled up to get their pictures and couldn't wait to take them home! It was truly an amazing experience, and we are so thankful to Mary and Jeanne for their hard work. We have posted some of the pictures both on Facebook and  on our website (www.brianmuhafondation.org).

So please take a look! We are also thrilled to have Brian Rolle, the Buckeyes star middle-linebacker interning with us for the second summer in a row! The kids love him and look up to him, and he has even begun mentoring a few of our young men. We are also beginning our second bi-weekly food drive for specific items for our food pantry. These next two weeks we are hoping to receive bottled drinks, like Gatorade, juices and protein drinks. If you are able to contribute any of these items and would like to drop them off with one of our porch team members throughout the city, here are their addresses: 643 Sycamore Mill Dr., Gahanna, 43230 6951 Mesquite Ct. Dublin, 43017 5619 Loch More Ct. West. Dublin. 43017 4219 Woodbridge Road, Columbus, 43220 4885 Chevy Chase Ave, Upper Arlington, OH 43220 2322 Stargrass Ave. Grove City, OH 7687 Crossbill Court, Dublin 43017 874 Helenhurst Ct.,Westerville, OH 43081 Also, you are always welcome to bring any items directly to our rec center at 303 N. Eureka Ave. Columbus, OH 43204 Mon-Thurs 11-7. Thank you all so much for your incredible support!!!

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Hello Everyone!

As many of you know, Run The Race operates a Food Pantry for the children that come to our rec center, and their Families. With the large number of children that come to our center every week, it is increasingly difficult to keep our pantry stocked with snacks and food for the kids. 

As a result we are beginning a Bi-Weekly Food Drive for one or two items every two weeks. We have been blessed with an incredible network of volunteers (our Porch Team!) from all over the city who have committed their front porches to be drop off locations for anyone who would like to contribute. These first two weeks we are concentrating on Fruit-Roll-Ups and Granola Bars. If you are able to help out in any way, you can leave your contribution at any of these addresses;

643 Sycamore Mill Dr., Gahanna, 43230

6951 Mesquite Ct. Dublin, 43017

5619 Loch More Ct. West. Dublin. 43017

4219 Woodbridge Road, Columbus, 43220 

4885 Chevy Chase Ave, Upper Arlington, OH 43220

2322 Stargrass Ave. Grove City, OH

7687 Crossbill Court, Dublin 43017 

874 Helenhurst Ct.,Westerville, OH 43081

Also, you are always welcome to bring any items directly to our rec center at 303 N. Eureka Ave. Columbus, OH 43204 Mon-Thurs 11-7. Thank you all so much for your incredible support.

For more information about Run The Race and our other programs please visit our website at www.brianmuhafoundation.org

With Love,

Nick D'Andrea

Run The Race Club

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On Thursday March 25th Run The Race began it's newest and cutest operation to date! We had our first day of our brand new program called  "Mini-Racers: Ready, Set, Race!" We started off with six little ones, all brothers, sisters, cousins, nephews or nieces, 3 - 5 years old, of our current Racers. We had snacks, story time, games in the gym, Easter egg coloring and playing outside! It was a huge success and we look forward to running it 3 days a week with (hopefully) 30 little ones, by next fall!

Our website has also undergone a major renovation as we try to catch up with the modern age, thanks to the hard work and patience of our very special friend Jean Han! We have begun a Facebook Page, a PayPal account, and an Interactive Online Food-Pantry to help keep our cupboards full this summer as our Racers and their families will be in need! We hope to make it much easier in the months ahead for us to keep in touch!

As always we are so grateful for all of your help, your prayers, and your amazing support! We are very excited for the Spring and Summer months ahead so stay tuned for many stories, pictures, and videos to come!

Have a safe and Happy Easter!

Love from all your friends at Run The Race

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