ASHLAND, Ky. – Amy For Africa officially closed the books on its first year and have started the second year with momentum generated from a challenge race between two of its members.
Scott Walter and AFA co-founder Mark Maynard have raised more than $3,250 in a challenge they’ve dubbed the Big Boy Classic. They will be running a 5K on June 27 at the Kyova Mall as part of the Carys Rainn Foundation 5K. A portion of what is being raised will go to that organization.
Walter and Maynard are inexperienced runners but are proving to be heavyweight fundraisers. The fundraising competition has been ongoing for about three weeks.Walter and Maynard are asking friends and family to vote for them ($1 = 1 vote) on the amyforafrica.com website.
They have already smashed their original goal of $2,000.
AFA, which began on May 29, 2013 when the amyforafrica.com website was launched, collected nearly $58,000 in the first year that are going to missions in Moyo, Uganda through United Christian Expedictions. They did it through speaking engagements in community churches, civic organizations, schools, detention centers and anywhere else a door opened up.
Amy Compston, a 29-year-old marathon runner who competed in the last two Boston Marathons, has shared her story of how God saw her through two drug overdoses, a traumatic car accident and the bombings in the 2013 Boston Marathon. Her story of grace and redemption has given hope to the thousands who have heard her speak.
“The first year has gone by so fast,” Compston said. “We are blessed by God to be a part of this mission. It’s such an honor to be chosen by God. Mark and I have been humbled by everything that’s happened. My husband Chris and the rest of my family have also been changed forever by all that’s happened.”
Last week, a documentary on Compston and the Amy For Africa mission debuted in Ashland, Ky. “Amy Compston: Feet on a Mission” is available for viewing on Youtube.
The nurse, wife and mother of four last year ran a 50-mile ultra marathon in Nashville where she finished second.
This year, she and her husband, Chris, are running a combined 14 marathons in eight months. She already has two under her belt, including a first-place finish where she set a course record in the Gnawbone, Ind., trail marathon.
Chris and Amy will be running June 14 in Belfry, Ky., for the Hatfield & McCoy Marathon, regarded as one of the 15 toughest marathons in the world.
Team AFA will also be passing out 10,000 gospel tracts.