Dear Friends and Family,
Wow, I can hardly believe it -- in less than a month I'll be running my first marathon, and it'll be the Boston Marathon (the world's oldest annual marathon) to boot! I'm so fortunate to have this opportunity to train for the marathon with a group as supportive as the Harvard College Marathon Challenge (HCMC), and I'm really glad that I'll be running to raise money for our charity, the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA).
Here's just a bit about HCMC and PBHA. HCMC is a group of Harvard students, faculty, employees, and alumni who run together and raise money for good causes throughout the Boston area. Every year, HCMC puts together a team of runners to run the Boston Marathon for charity, and this year I was fortunate enough to get a spot! What I like most about HCMC is their spirit that anyone, no matter how much or how little running experience they have, can run a marathon. Running with the group has been very inspirational for me, and I'm really excited to be training with them this year. You can read more about HCMC here.
PBHA is a student-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization at Harvard whose mission is to promote the health, education, and welfare of Boston-area youth and their families through social service and social action. Founded in 1904, PBHA now operates over 70 community programs that benefit close to 10,000 people in Boston and Cambridge, including the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, where I volunteered as a freshman (I now volunteer with a program serving uninsured kids at Children's Hospital Boston that is trying to become part of PBHA). I've seen firsthand the positive impact that PBHA has on both the communities it serves and the students who volunteer in its programs, and I'm proud to be running the Boston Marathon to raise money for them. (Update: I actually spent spring break this year volunteering in New Orleans as part of a PBHA Alternative Spring Break trip, and was further impressed by the great work that PBHA does not just in the Boston area but in needy communities around the country.) You can read more about PBHA here.
Thank you so much for considering sponsoring me -- I'm hoping to raise at least $2000 and every little bit helps! Your support means a great deal to me, as running this marathon will allow me not only to raise funds for a great cause, but also to grow as a person and to accomplish something I wouldn't have thought possible just a few months ago. If you become a sponsor, I promise to send you monthly updates on my marathon training, as well as photos and stories from marathon day, so you can follow along with my journey. Let's go do this together!
With much gratitude and love,
Charles Liu
P.S. Thanks so much to everyone who has sponsored me so far: Mom and Dad, Carmen, Dave, Ed, Eleanor, Eric, Gaiying, the Hunt Family, Jianing, Mr. and Mrs. Jin, Jinju, Kim, Leslie, Lijie, Pei-Yang, Peng S., Peng Z., Qianghua, Samantha, Shu, Shuna, Tom and Anna, Tzu-Ting, Mr. and Mrs. Wang, Weidong, and Yang!
And at Harvard: Shawn, Sarah, Caterina, Shaun, Francesca, Krishna, Devarati, Maya, Zirui, Mythili, John, Evelyn, David, Luisa, Shu Sin, Jim, Matt, Nina, Margie, Veronica, Sara, Lev, Johnny, and Aaron!