Jake Samuels and his mom, Roberta, love to run and always imagined racing side by side one day. It was Family Promise that finally brought their track shoes together when the mother-son duo ran the “Autumn Georgetown 5K and Half” in Washington, D.C., this fall to raise funds and awareness for families battling homelessness.
“I’m glad that together we could raise awareness and support for such an important issue,” says Roberta.
Roberta is director of foundation and corporate relations at Family Promise, and Jake, now a college student, was a summer intern during h
is high school years. Roberta and her family also volunteer at Family Promise shelter sites.
To garner support, Roberta and Jake emailed family and friends about the race and posted updates on Facebook. They were overwhelmed by the response to their campaign, which exceeded their goal of $1,000.
Roberta and Jake used Family Promise’s online fundraising platform to promote their event. The program provides simple step-by-step instructions to create your own campaign and even offers email and social media templates to help you promote your event.
Peer-to-peer fundraising offers limitless ways to support Family Promise from the convenience of your computer or mobile screen. Events like races and birthday dedications are just some of the ways supporters have spread awareness of the crisis of family homelessness and raised funds for families in need. For Roberta and Jake, it was an easy way to promote a cause they believe in.
“We ran this race because too many families experience homelessness, and Family Promise is doing great work to help them,” Jake says.
