Friends & family,

I am excited to announce that I will be running this year’s NYC marathon! 3 weeks ago I started playing with the idea of running the marathon and while researching different charities, I stumbled upon Shoe4Africa, a charity dedicated to improving health and education outcomes for children. I decided to email the organization expressing my interest and sure enough a few weeks later, had a spot on the team. Some may call it crazy, training for a marathon in just 8 weeks, but I’ve never been one to turn down a challenge. 

Shoe4Africa started as a sneaker-donation charity, but has since turned into something much larger. The organization has since built four schools as well as the first public children’s hospital in east and central Africa. The children’s hospital has onsite classrooms for educating, empowering and enabling a healthier population as well as a playground on site for patients to help them recover through play. As a pediatric cardiology nurse at New York Presbyterian Hospital, I am so happy to share in Shoe4Africa’s mission statement of attaining the highest level of pediatric care. Shoe4Africa is ‘running’ as a team to improve Sub-Saharan Africa’s first pediatric hospital in order to help children that otherwise would not survive without medical care. 

This past March I went to Africa for the first time and was stunned by the land’s natural beauty and the overwhelming kindness of everyone I met. I am so grateful to have had the experience (shout-out Paul & Paige) and raising money to help East Africa flourish will demonstrate my gratitude for the once in a lifetime trip. I highly encourage you to read more about Shoe4Africa and founder Toby Tanser’s story at https://shoe4africa.org/.

I appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for supporting me!

Geralyn