Why the Bridge of Hope?

Several of you have asked about the Bridge of Hope – What are they all about and why did you choose them? I’d like to deal with the “why” before the “what.”

When I made the decision to enter the Janus Charity Challenge, I did not have a specific beneficiary in mind. I evaluated charities on the basis of three personal criteria…

1. Proven effectiveness. If I was going to be asking friends and corporations to ante up, I wanted to make sure their contributions would be put to good use.
2. Significant impact. I wanted to select a smaller organization that would greatly benefit from the fundraising effort.
3. Emotional attachment. Selfishly, I figured a heartfelt attachment to the charity’s mission would better compel me to train & race through fatigue, pain, and the occasional bad attitude.

Measured against these criteria, the Bridge of Hope was the clear winner. I made the decision and have not looked back. In fact, I’ve become more excited after interacting with their executive director and a couple of board members. They are thankful people.

The Bridge of Hope is effective. They have maintained close to an 80% success rate over the past three years doing an extraordinarily difficult mission. With Lori’s personal involvement in two BOH “mentoring groups,” I can attest to both the difficulty and the effectiveness of their mission.

The Bridge of Hope is small and will benefit from your giving. Last year they provided assistance to 33 families. If we hit my fundraising goal, we will provide enough funding to support five families through their program. They rely on private giving, receiving zero state or federal funding.

The Bridge of Hope transforms lives. They end and prevent homelessness for women and children. They enable self-sufficiency. More on that soon…