Friends of Ethiopia Reads in the Bay Area are getting together to run or walk Bay to Breakers together on Sunday May 21, 2017. We are aiming to recruit 100 runners/walkers to raise some sponsorship from friends to support Ethiopia Reads literacy programs for children in Ethiopia.
Everyone had a wonderful time over the years getting out for some exercise, watching the fun and frolics of Bay to Breakers and then meeting up afterwards for a picnic in Golden Gate Park. We got great support from donors, local businesses for sponsorship and walkers and runners and have raised between $9,000 and $20,000 over the years. This time, we are asking participants to aim to raise $100 each by getting a few friends or coworkers to sponsor them for a great cause. We also have a generous $5,000 matching donation so if we can get 100 runners raising $100 each, we will raise $15,000 for Ethiopia Reads!
Malcolm Clark and Frew Tibebu, local board members for Ethiopia Reads, will be arranging fruit, pastries and tea/coffee/juice afterwards close to the end, sponsored by Cinderella’s Russian Bakery and Peets Coffee
Sign up here or by contacting the organizers: Malcolm (macazeb@hotmail.com) or Frew (tibebufr@msn.com) or by phone at (209) 629-3765 (Frew) or (415) 596-4121 (Malcolm).
Download the event flyer here
Ethiopia Reads…and Runs – 2017 FAQ!
Bay to Breakers is commercially organized and sponsored (AEG Entertainment and ING). Bay to Breakers also makes charitable donations to Bay Area organizations. Individual registration for Bay to Breakers is $69, helps support the event costs and entitles you to (a) a Bay to Breakers T Shirt (b) an official electronic timing chip so your time from Start to Finish can be measured exactly, and (c) entrance to the “Footstock” after-run party in Golden Gate Park. In the past, many participants who do not want these items have not registered and just participate. However, every year, they say that if you do not have a official race bib, you can be asked to leave the course.
The official start time is 8 am, and the official start is on Howard Street at Beale. It takes a long time for everyone who is waiting in the huge crowd behind the start line to get away. We will meet at 7.45 am on 4th Street, at Mission outside the entrance to the Metreon Centre on the East side of 4th and south side of Mission (this is close to the Powell Street BART station on Market Street.) We will organize into groups. Unless you are a fast runner, we recommend waiting until all the fast runners have gone by before joining and for walkers to wait longer to avoid the discomfort of runners bumping into you.
We highly recommend coming by public transport if you can and Powell Street BART is very close to our meeting place. If you are driving please check carefully when roads are closed and opened again. The race route is closed on Howard between Embarcadero and Third Street is closed between midnight and 10 am. The route is closed between Third Street and Divisadero after 7 am. If you are trying to drive north across the race route, we recommend crossing Divisadero before 8 am when it closes.
We will meet at the 45th Avenue Playground in Golden Gate Park (close to Lincoln) for a get together and celebratory picnic. There will be coffee, tea, water, pastries and fruit to replenish your energy, and if the weather is nice and you can stay for a while it will be a chance to meet Yohannes and hear a little about Ethiopia Reads work.
This event is intended to create a feeling of common achievement amongst the Bay Area Friends of Ethiopia Reads, do something healthy together and also raise funds, but it is not intended to be financially burdensome to individuals at all. This is why we are requesting (but not insisting) that every adult participant raises a minimum of $100 in sponsorship from their friends/family/co-workers. We would much prefer that you raise this, preferably $10-$20 at a time and tell people about our work, rather than end up writing a check for $100. There is a link to a crowdfunding page to allow you to ask friends and family to support you with a dedicated donation on the
sign-up web page and record email addresses so we can keep sponsors and donors informed of our progress.
We expect some children and teenagers will be joining, but do not expect them to be raising any sponsorship.
As we explained, we have $5,000 in matching challenge grants, and so if we can have 100 participants raise $100 each, we will raise $15,000 together in a few hours!
We would be extremely grateful if you could bring the full check for you sponsorship amount on the day, payable to “Ethiopia Reads”. This will save a great deal of work chasing up everyone.
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