BY DANIEL ROJAS
Early on Sunday morning, June 3, 2018, more than 140 people from the Berrien Springs community and surrounding area, along with many participants from Conéctate, a Lake Union Conference Hispanic youth event, rose to the challenge of helping refugees from Myanmar. They ran and walked in the first 5k Color Run fundraising event ever held on the campus of Andrews University. Coordinated by ASAP Ministries in collaboration with the Director of the Multicultural Ministries Department of the Lake Union Conference, the race brought people together. In addition to coordinators and runners, many local sponsors joined the effort by providing supplies and a helpful presence.
The runners started off clean and neat and ended up fully colored as they ran through each of the stations where colorful powders were thrown at them as they raced through. Other participants decided just to have fun by walking and enjoying the pleasant green of the campus. Close to $2,000 dollars was raised to help children from zones where poverty, war, and illiteracy have been present for more than sixty years.
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This effort to bring new hope in Jesus Christ through quality Christian education was a step forward in creating a healthier environment, an environment where children’s dreams and creativity can flourish. We wanted to foster a hopeful tomorrow where acts of war can be exchanged for acts of compassion and where drug addiction can be turned into the addiction of brotherly love.
Don ran with work shoes. He had come just to cheer on his friends, but a few minutes before the race they convinced him to register and run for the cause. He didn’t have the right shoes or clothes for the race, but he had the right motivation and attitude to challenge himself. And he came in as fourth place winner!
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A little four-year-old girl enjoyed running alongside her mother to the finish line. Her big smile and a fully colored shirt was inspiring and served as a reminder that anybody can help bring back smiles of hope to needy children in conflict zones.
