FAQs
What is Helping Children Worldwide?
Helping Children Worldwide (HCW) is a 501c3 Non-Profit located in Chantilly, Virginia (greater DC area). HCW’s Mission is to strengthen and empower families and communities. HCW works in the areas of global health and child welfare through our financial support of the Child Reintegration Centre and Mercy Hospital in Sierra Leone, Africa. HCW also provides technical assistance and support to global health and child welfare programs in Africa, Asia, and South America.
What is this fundraiser for?
This fundraiser is to raise money to support Helping Children Worldwide’s work in Global health. Funds will be applied to support the work at Mercy Hospital, as well as various programs and projects in global health through our partnerships.
What is a virtual fitness challenge?
A virtual fitness challenge combines the fun of an in-person 5k or bike-a-thon with the convenience of completing it anywhere you want and at any pace. In this challenge, you can run, walk, cycle, or swim a set distance and upload your results online to compare your performance against others around the world. It’s a great way to exercise and raise money for a worthy cause.
When is this event?
The fundraiser is during the month of October for the Road to Mercy Hospital. The Road to Samie and the Road to Freetown extend into the end of November and the end of December respectively. All distances must be logged between 12 AM on March 17 and the specified end date.
What are the events?
The Road to Mercy Hospital is a 28-mile walk from a village to Mercy Hospital and back to another village, which encompasses the distance a family might take to receive care at the hospital. Our virtual challenges give you the entire month to cover your chosen distance, so if you walk 1 mile a day (which should take around 30 minutes) you can complete the challenge with a few days to spare!
The Road to Samie Village is a 50-mile challenge. Samie Village is the community Emmanuel "Nabs" Nabieu grew up in. When the civil war broke out, Nabs was 9 years old and he made this journey from Samie to Bo to find his Uncle. In this challenge, you can follow his journey to the city.
The Road to Freetown is 100 miles and covers the journey from the capital of Sierra Leone (Freetown) to Bo where our programs are located.
Almost any fitness can be tracked towards your progress or converted using this chart.
How do I participate in this fundraiser?
There are three ways to get involved with this fundraiser:
- Participate in the fitness challenge (see “How do I join the challenge?” below)
- Share about this challenge with friends and family and get them to sign up and do it with you (there’s a prize for the person with the most referrals!)
- Create your own fundraising page and ask your 30 closest friends to sponsor you for $1, $5, $10 per mile. Explain to them how the money will help support Helping Children Worldwide. When you create a fundraising page, a fundraising packet will be sent to help guide you in creating posts for social media and asking others to partner with you.
How much does it cost to participate?
The cost to do the race is $30-$40 depending on the distance you select. However, we hope that you will set up a fundraising page and ask others to donate towards your progress in this challenge. If you can raise an additional $50 towards our cause, we can do more for children and families worldwide. 100% of the donations go to Helping Children Worldwide to support our work of strengthening and empowering families and communities.
What do I get for participating?
Along the journey, you will receive badges for reaching different milestones along your journey. All participants who complete the fitness challenge will receive a small woodcarving carved by a Sierra Leone artist. There will also be additional prizes for the person and team who raises the most money, the person who finishes each race first, the person who gets the most people to register, and the person who finishes "under the wire".
If I’m not interested in exercising, can I still participate in some way?
Hey, we get it! For some people, a 28-mile walk is not possible, either due to time constraints or physical limitations. For $35, you can sponsor someone else to do the race, or you can make a donation to the cause by clicking donate above.
How do I set up a fundraising page to get others to donate money to this cause?
- Sign In to RunSignup
- Go to your Profile
- Click My Registered Races
- Click Manage next to the registration to Manage
- Click Fundraiser in the left-hand sidebar to begin
- Set your fundraising goal
- Write a brief description of your fundraiser
- Personalize your page with a photo. We can provide you with some photos from Sierra Leone if you would like one.
- Share your fundraising page with everyone you know! The more you share, the greater your chance of getting donations. Let us know if you have any problems or questions.
How do I log my miles?
You can log your distances on RunSignUp using your email or the last 4 digits of your phone number. All the ways you can submit miles can be found here. Almost any fitness can be tracked towards your progress or converted using this chart.
Can I do this on a team?
Yes! When you register you will be asked if you want to join this mission as a team or an individual. If you want to join a team after registering, you will need to:
- Sign In to RunSignup
- Go to your Profile
- Navigate to Upcoming Events.
- Click Manage Registration next to the registration you would like to add to a team
- Click Group/Team on the left-hand sidebar
- From the pop-up select Join Existing Group/Team
- Either select a Group/Team from the dropdown or Search Groups/Teams
- Click Continue
For more information on using the RunSignUp website, click here.
