Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Introduction to Team World Vision Ozarks

How TWVO Started:
You may be asking yourself…How did Team World Vision Ozarks (TWVO) get started. The answer is best explained in a story:
Three years ago, a friend of mine by the name Chris Miller noticed the pile of unclaimed mail on his kitchen table was getting pretty high. Under all the Pizza Hut coupons and credit card offers, he found a copy of Relevant Magazine. After flipping through it, he began reading an article entitled "The Louder Voice: ... the article brought tears to his eyes. In the article, the author recounted a trip he had recently taken to Africa. He spoke of seeing little boys and girls piled on beds, waiting to die. He brought to light the intense poverty that exists all over the world. Chris’s heart broke as the author said that (at least) 20,000 children die each day from hunger, disease, and a lack of clean water.

But there is good news. It doesn’t have to be this way. Chris reminded me that there is HOPE!

Chris knew this was not something he could keep to himself. He began dreaming about putting together a local team. That Dream became a reality, and over the past two years almost 50 runners from Team World Vision Ozarks have completed the Chicago Marathon. These runners have been both experienced and inexperienced - who share a passion for serving the less fortunate. Our plan this year is for us to, meet each Saturday (starting in June) at one of the area parks, train together, complete our long runs, share in our accomplishments, and Celebrate in Chicago as TWVO makes a difference in AFRICA.

Who is World Vision?
Simply put, World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice.

For more information, check out http://www.worldvision.org/.