The Omaha Midnight Run was a 5k held on the streets of Downtown Omaha, on Friday, September 9th. It was the second run put on by a group of young adults who came together despite social and economic backgrounds, race and religion. Young people coming together who just want to make a difference in their city. This year our group decided to partner and donate all the proceeds to the Abide Network. The Abide Network is a non-profit organization transforming the inner-city through neighborhood restoration and beautification, mentoring programs, block parties, helping the elderly, and the list goes on and on.
The masses ready to run!
In fact, I have a unique tie with Abide Network as my mom and step-dad worked for them at one time. I remember it clearly when my siblings and I were moved from our comfy secure neighborhood to a place where we were the minority and gunshots were the nightly lullaby. It was through the relationship with Abide that my parents were able to adopt my sister Michaela(Hebrew for "who is like God") Michaela was born to a mother who was serving time in jail for child neglect and was not allowed to keep the baby as she needed to finish her term. My parents took Michaela and after a few scary nights of her turning blue and not responding, she was diagnosed with severe fetal alcohol syndrome and had to have a trachea and feeding tube put in to survive. The doctors said she would never walk or speak and yet, that little girl moved so fast to get to her loved ones and had so much more to teach us than any scholar! She passed shortly before her second birthday and my life was forever altered after holding her in my arms trying to breathe her back to life. The Father had so many more lessons He needed me to learn and a path that I would need to walk down that would be incomplete without me going through those times. It was for my sister, Michaela that I readily jumped on board with the Omaha Midnight Run as it is children like her Abide is trying to reach and minister too.
Now indulge me as I begin a ramble of all the things that took place. I need documentation somewhere and writer's cramp is just so not appealing. So anywho, Nick and I jumped on board in various ways with Nick kinda helping out wherever he was needed and I working as the assistant marketing director. It was an amazing experience for us to meet new people, build relationships, get passionate about my city, and be reminded of my humble backgrounds. I was constantly reminded that this whole process of 28 years of life was for a reason. My path was carefully orchestrated in such a way that I had a choice to either get involved and use what I had learned or instead, choose to walk away and never really come into my meaning.
My side-kick Staci~I couldn't have done this without her!
So many relationships were made and built upon during this time.
After countless e-mails, meetings, flier and water bottle distributions, knocking on what seemed like every business in Omaha for support, God really smiled down on our group and opened some doors. We were able to do a TV spot that was filmed by one of our own and ran on the local community channel. We were posted on several local sites and radio stations, were being contacted by businesses and locals wanting info, Southwest airlines donate round-trip tickets to the first male and first female to cross the finish line, bought the domains for www.omahamidnightrun.com, had an opportunity to do a interview on the Morning Blend-http://www.omahamorningblend.com/videos/127727038.html and Q98, had a gal from our group present to one of the largest companies in town who ended up giving a monetary donation, and were given the platform to speak in front of several heavy hitters in Omaha through the EMPOWER meeting. Every expectation, worry, hope, and dream was blown out of the water with the response we received-and that's just from the business perspective!
In the "greenroom" with Katie prior to going on the morning Blend
The actual night of the run held so many worries and what ifs that I found it to be quite strange when I arrived only to feel complete peace. The whole night was a major success with the mayor showing up at the beginning to give a shout out of pride for our city and the 1,200+ runners and over 100 supporters and volunteers who came out to support the cause. The start of the race actually brought tears to my eyes as florescent streaks of color sped past me in effort to win the grand prize of first place. The night ended with fun, food, music, prizes and an awards ceremony for the top three runners. I was so blessed to be apart of such a city-changing event. The love for my hometown and it's people grew tenfold with each pound of the pavement.
Let us never forget to continue running the race!
We are truly a generation of revolutionaries rising up to take their place, rebuilding the ancient cities, and giving honor where honor is do. We achieve all this while not taking offense to the everyday going-ons and instead we work together paving the way for the next generation to go boldly in the direction God is leading them-may our children never be satisfied with the world we built, may they only yearn for the impossible!
