Volunteering & Other Good Stuff

This was the 2nd weekend in a row that I volunteered at a race, and I absolutely love it! I now understand why my parents (Team Shorey) get so excited when I have a race and they come cheer me on.

Of course volunteering means standing in the blazing sun, wearing a black t-shirt (Jack's Generic Tri), sweating, and yellling at runners to "stay left" or "inside the cones" or "watch your step". Today's volunteering included standing over a smoking grill (Darnd'st Du), assembly line duties of preparing burgers & hot dogs, and picking up trash. My favorite thing about volunteering at a race, though, is cheering on my friends.

Today's race, the Darnd'st, raised over $3,000 for CASA (court-appointed special advocates) of Central Texas. I was a court-advocate for several years when I lived in Dallas. While being an advocate is the type of volunteering that rips your heart out, it's essential to have eyes and ears out there, listening to the children, assessing the foster home environment, and communicating to the court if placement should be continued/changed, and if (hopefully) the child is adoption-ready. I really love that this race gives something back, because a lot of races these days don't.

Austin Duathletes has also started selling shirts for the upcoming Protest Duathlon. Normally, we would try to give away the shirts for free, but board member Stacy Keese recently lost her father, and in his memory a scholarship has been established. Jack & Stacy Keese are setting up a website (TBD) to collect funds for an annual book scholarship for a boy and a girl, each in the amount of $500. Proceeds from the Protest shirts go directly to this scholarship fund on behalf of Austin Duathletes. So far, we have raised $200. Stacy mentioned to me today at the Darnd'st that she had no idea we were doing that until she heard Panther's announcement at the Pub Run, and it nearly made her cry with gratitude.

I know that Kris has other community-related ideas for AD, and I'm glad our club is interested in doing more.