A Virginia Beach woman has pledged to run 40 hours straight to help raise awareness and money for the Maison Fortune Orphanage in Haiti.
"Whether I'm running, walking or even crawling, I'm not going to stop," said Ashley Horner, a professional fitness competitor.
According to WTKR, Horner had planned to complete her run in Haiti to help commemorate the 20th anniversary of the orphanage. Over the last five years, she has aimed to support the orphanage both financially and through raising awareness in the States. With hundreds of children, from kindergarten to high school age, part of Horner's focus is education.
"I believe, and the same with the orphanage, that in order to turn a third world country around you have to start with education," she said. "You have to have good strong leaders there to help with the problems of a third world country like Haiti."
Horner encourages others who want to get involved to donate to the cause and even pledge to run themselves. She hopes to reach her goal of $100,000. For those interested in participating, runners can join individually or as a team. To learn more or to donate, visit her website here.
"It doesn't matter if you can run a mile," she said. "It doesn't matter if you want to run for time, just pledge to run something with me and to donate a little bit of money."
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