Racing for Health and Tradition

***all photos courtesy of Sarah Farnsworth Photography and Richard Dunwoody Photography***

I'm back and fresh off the highs of racing in the Gaucho Derby where I got to earn all of your donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital!  To refresh your memories, y'all helped me raise $15,750 to donate to St. Jude in my mom's name, herself a longtime supporter of St. Jude and a cancer survivor.  Thank you so so much for contributing to that fundraiser and helping me realize that dream - I hope that my Top 10 finish in the Gaucho Derby made y'all proud!  However, I can no longer dwell in the satisfaction of raising that money and completing the race, because now I get to do it all over again....except twice as long of a race known as the Mongol Derby!

In August, 35 of us horse-crazy people will be competing in a 1,000km horse race across the Mongolian Steppe!!!  The Mongol Derby route is based off of the path that Ghengis Khan used to deliver messages across his vast empire.  The rules are similar to the Gaucho Derby, except that it is twice as long and the horses are half as broke. To motivate myself through those 1,000 kilometers and potential buck-offs, I would like to raise $15 per kilometer to donate to The Jed Foundation and Steppe and Hoof organization.

 

The Jed Foundation is a nonprofit that promotes emotional health and strives to prevent substance abuse, self-harm, and suicide as a result of emotional distress. The organization focuses on teens and young adults with programs to equip individuals to build resiliency and life skills, strengthen schools’ support networks, and mobilize communities to promote positive influences in young people’s lives. The issues of depression, self-harm, and suicide have hit closer to home recently, as many of you may have also experienced throughout this COVID pandemic, so I feel like this is a very relevant and important charity to support at this time.  My younger brother has lost several friends over the past couple years to issues involving mental health, so I would like to make this donation in his name to honor the memory of his friends. (https://jedfoundation.org)

The second charity, Steppe and Hoof, is a nonprofit that supplies veterinary aid, modern tools, and continuing education to nomadic Mongolian herdsman in an effort to save and protect the unique traditions that are part of the Mongolian nomadic lifestyle. Due to a variety of factors, the number of traditional herding families has dwindled to just a tiny fraction of what is once was as herders are forced to abandon traditional ways and move to the cities.  How tragic would it be if this unique lifestyle was to permanently disappear from our world?  What an incredible loss that would be.  So I am asking for your help to prevent that from happening by making Steppe and Hoof my second charity for the Mongol Derby. (http://www.steppeandhoof.org)

 

If you are interested in supporting either of these charities, you can donate via this web page or, if you would like to get the tax deduction, by mailing a check to Rochelle Latka 2833 Ellis Ranch Lane; Loveland, CO 80538.  Please make the check out to the charity of your choice and date it June 1, 2022 as I will be sending in all donations by July 15.   If you would like your donation to go to a specific organization, please specify that, otherwise I will evenly split the donations between the two charities.  As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out via email or through facebook. I am hoping to have all of the funds raised by June 15th, 2022.