Day 1 of No-shave November: clean-shaven.
It was a concoction of factors and circumstances that led to my discovery of the Hands and Feet Project which is a small organization that has been growing since it was first established in 2004 by members of Christian band Audio Adrenaline. In a nutshell, The Hands and Feet Project runs two Children’s Villages in Haiti where they care for orphaned children. By doing so they are addressing one of the most distinct and clear scriptural directives intended for Christians to follow. But, now, they’d like to grow their potential to meet the needs of Haitian orphans by building two additional villages, in effect, doubling their capacity. If you care to read more about why the focus of the Hands and Feet Project, caring for Haitian orphans, is near and dear to me, please read one of my prior blog posts on the topic. One of the avenues they’ve chosen to raise money is to recruit people to run with Mark Stuart, Will McGinnis, Kevin Max, and other members of the Hands and Feet Project/Audio Adrenaline in the Rock and Roll Marathon/Half Marathon series as part of the Hands and Feet Team. In order to take part as a member of the Hands and Feet Team, though, runners have to raise at least $500 which all benefits the Hands and Feet Project’s mission of providing for Haitian orphans. Their first team race is today at the Las Vegas Marathon.
My goal is to participate in the second Hands and Feet Project team run at the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville, TN on
Day 30 of No-shave November: scruff and snowman pajamas.
April 27, 2013 and I’m sacrificing any groomed dignity I may have had as a way to raise at least $500 to benefit the work of The Hands and Feet Project.
I made a commitment to participate in “No-shave November,” by shaving clean on 11/1 and not touching the razor again for the full month of November. However, the original idea was that if I could get people to sponsor me at a rate of $5 a day, I would let it continue growing until the sponsorships run out or until the April 27, 2013 Half Marathon – whichever comes first. To understand why this is, at all, an interesting prospect, I should note that I have never been able to grow a decent beard. In one month, I’ve developed some sub-standard jaw line, mustache, chin, and neck coverage, but, all I get on my cheeks are uneven, sparse patches of whiskers that my wife complains about almost daily. My face looks more like a beaten up velcro strip than a beard.
That being said, I’m willing to let my facial hair go and take whatever uncharted form, shape, and appearance it will as long as I’m raising money for the Haitian orphans being served now and in the future by the Hands and Feet Project.
So, what do you think? Would you be willing to step up and fund these whiskers? In doing so, you won’t just be improving the lives of many homeless Haitian children, but, you’ll make everyone else who is near me look nicer and more well-groomed by comparison. Finally, you’ll have the added satisfaction of knowing that you’ve helped to ensure that I will be one ugly, scruffy, stumbling, and sweaty mess at the end of the Country Music Half Marathon in Nashville on April 27, 2013. It’s a win for everybody!
Currently, thanks to the generous donations of a few early sponsors, my whiskers are safe through the 20th of January, 2013. If you are interested in donating to the cause, please contact me either via E-mail at mrocks7@windstream.net, on Facebook, or in person. Eventually there will be a link where people can donate in my name toward my $500 fundraising goal on the official Hands and Feet Project web page, but, because they’re still focusing on today’s Las Vegas Marathon event, they may not be publicizing the April event until later this month or January.
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For more information on my progress visit my Beards, Hands, and Feet Project Facebook Page – and be sure to ‘Like’ it!
For more information on The Hands and Feet Project visit the official Hands and Feet Project Site and view the videos below:
m e a n d e r s 