Dear Family and Friends,
I am running to raise money and awareness for the Omid Foundation who help disadvantaged Iranian women by giving them emotional support and an education to re-start their lives. These women come from various backgrounds and have had traumatic experiences - some had been sold to prostitution at an early age, or are children of drug addicts. They have not had a normal childhood nor access to a stable family life; some have never even been to school. 'The Glass House' was a documentary-film made about the work of the Foundation and charts the lives of some of the young girls they helped. You can read more about them and the women they help on their website here.
Omid is a well organised foundation that aims to give direct help and support to these women so that they can get a second chance at life. They are given an education, taught vocational skills, encouraged to gain academic qualifications and are rehabilitated into society with the help of trained professionals. As they are a charity, they heavily rely on donations. This is the reason I want to run for them - I believe in their work and I was truly touched by the stories of these women. I want to help give them that second chance.
I aim to raise as much money as possible to help Omid with their work - and I need your help to do so. This is a link to the donation page, together with my running manifesto:http://www.omid-e-mehr.org/ebl ast/runtothebeat-2011.htm
Many thanks in advance - all your support is deeply appreciated.
rowena
