Let's say it upfront for those who won't last until the end of this post - you don't have to run 10km, 21km or even 42km to raise funds for your favourite charity (or for Unidus for that matter!)
Each person receives $30 for volunteering at the Brisbane Marathon. While it was a very early start (5am!), it was an easy fundraising effort. The 9 individuals from Lighthouse raised $270 that went towards Watoto. It was a local effort with a global impact! To find out more, we talk to Suzie and Karyn - two of the volunteers!
What did you guys do?
Suzie: Some of us helped out at the Runners' Registration Desk. Our jobs were easy - tick participants off the list as they register, hand them their runner packs, and give basic directions (we might have sent some of them in the wrong directions because it was too early in the morning for some of us!)
Karyn: The rest of us helped out as road marshalls. My role was to make sure people are running the right way and to cheer the runners on! Although we could have kept the $30 for ourselves, we chose to give it towards Watoto.
What were the highlights for you? Suzie: The experience of going behind the scenes of a large scale community event, getting a glimpse of things that needs to be considered.. like how to best communicate information to so many people, how to lay out the registration area in a way that is conducive to human traffic flow! It was pretty educational for us too!
And you get some freebies like food, a drink and a free T-shirt! Not a bad deal!
Karyn: There were lots of amazing runners there... but I was most inspired by the runner ones who struggle to put one foot in front of the other with aching knees, pounding heart and sweating away through the slowly advancing distance. Regardless of whether a marathoner finishes the race or not, it was really encouraging to see that he or she had done their best!
Another highlight was meeting new people! I was partnered with another girl who was also volunteering. She was suppose to run on the day but had to withdraw due to an ankle injury. We had an awesome time of chatting while waiting for the runners to run by! It was a great outreach opportunity!
Would you recommend this activity to others? Suzie: Definitely! We heard about it through a friend of a friend and just jumped right into it! It is a really efficient way of fundraising and doing something fun together!
Karyn: Yes! I personally found that it was a good outreach and fundraising event. You have the chance to meet and work alongside new people. Even though I volunteered from 5am to 1pm, it didn’t feel long at all for me because it was really fun!
Where there any lowlights? Any suggestion for people who may want to do this activity in future?
Suzie: The 5am start was a bit hard for us, but it was alright once you get into volunteering.
Karyn: The early start was the only hard bit ... although it was amazing seeing people there before 5am to warm up for running 42km!
Well Lighthouse, you've done it again! Not only did you contribute 50 hours to the 500 hours campaign, you raised $270 towards building another house for the Watoto Village!
If you are keen to find out how you and your group of friends can volunteer at the next Brisbane Marathon event, go to www.brisbanemarathon.com.
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