George Foley is fundraising
Boston Marathon fundraiser -- St. Vincent de Paul
Friends –
On October 11, I will be running the 125th Boston Marathon! Not my 125th mind you, though I do feel about that old during some of my training runs. This will be my fifth Boston, including last year’s “virtual” Boston.
I was again fortunate enough to receive a Willie Wonka golden ticket-like bib number from the City of Newton (special thanks to Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller and Linda Plazonja, the Citizens Assistance Officer, for granting me one of the numbers!) and I’ll be raising much-needed funds for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Newton Conference.
ABOUT THE SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL (SVDP)
St. Vincent de Paul Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting people during times of need, and we are certainly in those times. No work of charity is unfamiliar to the Society; the slogan on the side of the Society’s trucks says it all: “We Help People.” While the organization is international in scope, it operates on a local basis and I volunteer with a conference in Newton. We focus our efforts on helping people primarily with basic needs (housing, food and clothing) in Newton and surrounding communities.
As you can imagine, the amount of need in the community over the past year with the pandemic has been tremendous. The pandemic hit people hard and right in the areas where we help, particularly with rent and utility expenses. And while the conference made it through the pandemic fairly well, we are anticipating an increase in requests. With the eviction moratorium and the utility shut-off moratorium both ending, we expect many people to seek assistance from SVDP.
When we receive requests for assistance, SVDP dispatches a two-person team to meet with our neighbor in need to get to know the circumstances, then provide the proper assistance, support and guidance. It is simultaneously humbling to hear about their struggles and uplifting to be able to help. During the pandemic, these meetings were primarily done on Zoom or by phone, but we’re getting back into in-person meetings. The in-person meetings really enable us to better understand the situation and shows our neighbor a level of care and respect that helps put them more at ease.
We have helped families with small children, individuals, elderly, those with mental illness, those who have suffered physical, emotional or sexual abuse. We have provided heating and utility assistance; helped with housing costs; gotten homeless people to overnight shelter; provided food; and made referrals to local food pantries and other organizations. We often work with Newton Housing Authority and the social workers in the City of Newton. We also coordinate several food and clothing drives throughout the year.
The Newton conference is staffed by volunteers so 100% of every dollar collected by our conference goes to helping people. We serve those in need regardless of creed, ethnic or social background, health, gender, sexual orientation or political opinions. Yes, we have a saint in our name, but we are just like any social outreach group, except on average our volunteers are much cooler and more fun. And I’m thinking of a theme song for the conference. But so far all I’ve got is “SVDP doo doo doo doo doo doo” a la “Baby Shark.” You can thank Ted Lasso for that.
SVDP is a registered 501c3 charity (tax ID 04-2104826) so your donation will be tax deductible. To help those in need in the community, you can make a donation on this page or, if you’d prefer, send a check (made out to St. Vincent de Paul) to:
Dan Foley
1572 Commonwealth Ave.
Newton, MA 02465
My goal is to raise $7,000 for this excellent cause. According to my wrap-up email, last year's Marathon fundraiser brought in $8600 for people in need. That’s actually quite an impressive figure and I again thank everyone who donated. Of course, it places a tremendous amount of pressure on us (meaning “you”) to rally and donate what we (again, here “we” really means “you”) can to try to meet or exceed last year. I think we (you) can do it!
THE RACE
Yes, the race. The prestigious Boston Marathon. Johnny Kelley, Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit, Des Linden, Meb Keflezighi… Hopkinton to Boston… Heartbreak Hill… that seemingly small bridge near Fenway that is an absolute beast to run over at the 24 mile mark… Well, you get the point, it’s a historic race. And really a massive Pro-Am event, with the top runners running the same race as, well, me. Albeit much faster.
This year’s race took a bit of a turn due to Covid. The field is much smaller (I think only 20,000 instead of the usual 30,000+) and they moved the event from its traditional Patriots’ Day weekend in April to October 11, which is Columbus Day and/or Indigenous People’s Day.
So instead of the usual winter training, we’re training in the heat and humidity (and rain). When people would complain about the cold during training in previous years, I would respond with “well, it could be worse, we could be training in the summer.” Yep, a real knee-slapper that was. Well at least we no longer need to wear masks while running, like we did last summer (brutal). Good news is that we may end up with hot weather training and a cooler race day, which is much different from what I’ve usually had with the Patriot’s Day timing. Nothing like training for 20 weeks and then rolling the dice on the weather! Goal, as always, is to get through training injury- and illness-free and to take the race as it comes (though I’d love to break the 4-hour mark, to be honest). At any rate when the run is over, I’ll send an update email, let the donors know the outcome.
If you can donate, any amount, it would be much appreciated. I will also be happily accepting positive thoughts and prayers on October 11!
Dan
P.S. – The pic on the fundraising page is of me at the start of the 2019 Boston Marathon. I also have a selfie at the end of the run but I opted to leave that out. It’s pretty rough and I didn’t want people rushing to close their browser windows before donating!
On October 11, I will be running the 125th Boston Marathon! Not my 125th mind you, though I do feel about that old during some of my training runs. This will be my fifth Boston, including last year’s “virtual” Boston.
I was again fortunate enough to receive a Willie Wonka golden ticket-like bib number from the City of Newton (special thanks to Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller and Linda Plazonja, the Citizens Assistance Officer, for granting me one of the numbers!) and I’ll be raising much-needed funds for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Newton Conference.
ABOUT THE SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT DE PAUL (SVDP)
St. Vincent de Paul Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting people during times of need, and we are certainly in those times. No work of charity is unfamiliar to the Society; the slogan on the side of the Society’s trucks says it all: “We Help People.” While the organization is international in scope, it operates on a local basis and I volunteer with a conference in Newton. We focus our efforts on helping people primarily with basic needs (housing, food and clothing) in Newton and surrounding communities.
As you can imagine, the amount of need in the community over the past year with the pandemic has been tremendous. The pandemic hit people hard and right in the areas where we help, particularly with rent and utility expenses. And while the conference made it through the pandemic fairly well, we are anticipating an increase in requests. With the eviction moratorium and the utility shut-off moratorium both ending, we expect many people to seek assistance from SVDP.
When we receive requests for assistance, SVDP dispatches a two-person team to meet with our neighbor in need to get to know the circumstances, then provide the proper assistance, support and guidance. It is simultaneously humbling to hear about their struggles and uplifting to be able to help. During the pandemic, these meetings were primarily done on Zoom or by phone, but we’re getting back into in-person meetings. The in-person meetings really enable us to better understand the situation and shows our neighbor a level of care and respect that helps put them more at ease.
We have helped families with small children, individuals, elderly, those with mental illness, those who have suffered physical, emotional or sexual abuse. We have provided heating and utility assistance; helped with housing costs; gotten homeless people to overnight shelter; provided food; and made referrals to local food pantries and other organizations. We often work with Newton Housing Authority and the social workers in the City of Newton. We also coordinate several food and clothing drives throughout the year.
The Newton conference is staffed by volunteers so 100% of every dollar collected by our conference goes to helping people. We serve those in need regardless of creed, ethnic or social background, health, gender, sexual orientation or political opinions. Yes, we have a saint in our name, but we are just like any social outreach group, except on average our volunteers are much cooler and more fun. And I’m thinking of a theme song for the conference. But so far all I’ve got is “SVDP doo doo doo doo doo doo” a la “Baby Shark.” You can thank Ted Lasso for that.
SVDP is a registered 501c3 charity (tax ID 04-2104826) so your donation will be tax deductible. To help those in need in the community, you can make a donation on this page or, if you’d prefer, send a check (made out to St. Vincent de Paul) to:
Dan Foley
1572 Commonwealth Ave.
Newton, MA 02465
My goal is to raise $7,000 for this excellent cause. According to my wrap-up email, last year's Marathon fundraiser brought in $8600 for people in need. That’s actually quite an impressive figure and I again thank everyone who donated. Of course, it places a tremendous amount of pressure on us (meaning “you”) to rally and donate what we (again, here “we” really means “you”) can to try to meet or exceed last year. I think we (you) can do it!
THE RACE
Yes, the race. The prestigious Boston Marathon. Johnny Kelley, Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit, Des Linden, Meb Keflezighi… Hopkinton to Boston… Heartbreak Hill… that seemingly small bridge near Fenway that is an absolute beast to run over at the 24 mile mark… Well, you get the point, it’s a historic race. And really a massive Pro-Am event, with the top runners running the same race as, well, me. Albeit much faster.
This year’s race took a bit of a turn due to Covid. The field is much smaller (I think only 20,000 instead of the usual 30,000+) and they moved the event from its traditional Patriots’ Day weekend in April to October 11, which is Columbus Day and/or Indigenous People’s Day.
So instead of the usual winter training, we’re training in the heat and humidity (and rain). When people would complain about the cold during training in previous years, I would respond with “well, it could be worse, we could be training in the summer.” Yep, a real knee-slapper that was. Well at least we no longer need to wear masks while running, like we did last summer (brutal). Good news is that we may end up with hot weather training and a cooler race day, which is much different from what I’ve usually had with the Patriot’s Day timing. Nothing like training for 20 weeks and then rolling the dice on the weather! Goal, as always, is to get through training injury- and illness-free and to take the race as it comes (though I’d love to break the 4-hour mark, to be honest). At any rate when the run is over, I’ll send an update email, let the donors know the outcome.
If you can donate, any amount, it would be much appreciated. I will also be happily accepting positive thoughts and prayers on October 11!
Dan
P.S. – The pic on the fundraising page is of me at the start of the 2019 Boston Marathon. I also have a selfie at the end of the run but I opted to leave that out. It’s pretty rough and I didn’t want people rushing to close their browser windows before donating!
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