I would like to ask for your support towards a great cause.

Earlier this year I traveled to Southeast Africa for the first time in my life and discovered a part of this world that was so underdeveloped it was hard for me to understand how that was even possible in this day and age. I witnessed hundreds of miles of unpaved roads, people sleeping on concrete floors in unfinished houses with no doors or windows, schools with barely any adult teachers, and public markets with locals selling raw chicken covered in flies inside buckets placed over the muddy soil. Clean water was nowhere to be found forcing most Western tourists like myself to brush our teeth with bottled water in the beautiful resorts we were staying. In these surreal conditions, I also saw hundreds of barefoot children walking around or engaged in some sort of work activity, while carrying a smile on their faces when greeted by tourists – somehow not realizing how less fortunate they were.

In a 2018 report, the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation concluded that despite progress over the past two decades, in 2017 alone, an estimated 6.3 million children and young adolescents died, mostly from preventable causes. These deaths reflect the limited access of children to basic health interventions such as vaccination, medical treatment of infectious diseases, adequate nutrition and clean water and sanitation. At a time when the knowledge and technology for life-saving interventions are available, it is unacceptable that 15,000 children died every day in 2017, mostly from preventable causes and treatable diseases.

I decided I wanted to help!

On Nov 3rd I will be participating in the world famous NYC Marathon as a member of the Shoe4Africa team, and dedicating my race to making change in the third world for needy children. I humbly ask for your help as I take on one of the greatest challenges of my life to save the lives of others and be a part of a team that is building Sub Saharan Africa’s 1st Children’s Cancer Hospital.

I’m truly excited to be a part of this team, and hope you’ll support me, so that I can finish the race and achieve my goal of raising as much as possible for Shoe4Africa in its commitment to help this work. I am starting my campaign with a personal donation of $5000 because this cause truly represents the ultimate gift to those in desperate need, and nothing makes me happier than giving to others. Your support in my campaign will help Shoe4Africa save lives every day by providing healthcare to those who were born in a country where pediatric healthcare for most is a dream. Your gift will mean so much to me, and to the hundreds of thousands of kids whose life will be bettered by our project. Since 2015 the public hospital we are supporting has treated well over 300,000 kids. Please be assured that 100% of our raised money will go to saving kids’ lives – not an executive’s lunch or taxi expense!

And now for the fun part!

I have never participated in any race longer than 5 km. I have been training over the last 45 days, but I have a long way to go before reaching 22.61 mi/42.195 km 🙂 Your participation in this great cause will also inspire me to reach the finish line. Every single donation (no matter what the amount) will motivate me to keep on pushing harder over the next 2.5 months and during the race! If you want to help but you can’t afford to do so at this time, please reach out to me and I will make the donation on your behalf! If you prefer to send a check, I can provide instructions on how to do so as well.

By supporting me in pursuit of my goals as part of the Shoe4Africa team, not only are you helping me achieve the challenge of a lifetime, you are also helping a region of the world that is unable to help itself.

Thank you so much for helping make every mile mean more!

Niko