How you are Helping
Montreat College will be hosting our annual 5K race to raise money for Coach Britten Olinger's initiative to support patients of the Shepherd Center. On February 27, 2017 around 7:00pm, Britten Olinger, was in a terrible car accident. He was hit by an erratic driver in Black Mountain, NC. He severed his spinal cord at the C7/T1 vertebrae. He had fractures in his pelvis/lower back, he had a broken left arm, he had traumatic injury to his lungs, and he had a small brain bleed. Coach O is Montreat's Track and Field coach and has touched so many lives through his passion for the sport of running.
From the Olinger family, "We are excited to announce we will be using this year's Britten Strong 5K as a fundraising campaign for backpacks for families at the Shepherd Center. As you can imagine, this is a traumatic time for families and their loved one. Families are flooded with the new responsibilities of this new normal, swimming just to stay afloat. Our family experienced this first hand, and was blessed by those willing and wanting to help in anyway they could. My mom (Elle) and I (Samantha) know first hand how crazy it is to try to pack and bring what we thought we would need while down there. It was because of other families that had been through this and reached out to us that we were able to transition those first few days while at the Shepherd Center. Now, we are wanting to provide those families a life pack, if you will. To come along beside them to provide some support and assistance in their moments of need. Even if it is just to help them catch their breath.
This year's Britten Strong 5K fundraiser will go strictly to this cause, we the Olinger family, care greatly about. Please, partner with us for a cause greater than ourselves, to help complete strangers in their lowest and most vulnerable point. Please take a look at the wish list and if you are able to make a purchase, if not that is okay, just please share this fundraiser so we can help as many of those amazing families as possible."
Additional support can be directed to https://www.myregistry.com/organization/britten-strong-foundation-black-mountain-nc/3250916.
