When the members of HNL, a Peachtree City-based running club, hear about someone in need, they act.
This was proven true once again on St. Patrick’s Day when they transformed their traditional Saturday morning group run to be so much more than that — a day to bring gift cards to a Fayette County family who lost everything in a house fire.
A single mother with three young sons was able to escape the March 3 blaze, fortunately with no injuries. Fayette County Deputy Fire Chief Tom Bartlett said the fire was “accidental and electrical in nature.”
One of the children is a student at Whitewater Middle School in Fayetteville. His teacher, Elizabeth Bowman, reached out to the staff to gather donations to help his family during this tragic time. Fellow WMS teacher Lindsey Hausmann knew exactly who could step up and help with donations: HNL.
Run HNL was founded in 2009 and successfully gained nonprofit status in 2017. This is not just your typical running club.
As quoted on the group’s website, “HNL exists for the purpose of making people’s lives better. We want to be involved in projects where we can make a real impact.”
The result from this particular initiative was completely overwhelming. More than 40 gift cards and cash donations were gathered on the morning of their St. Patrick’s Day run. All from local runners and supporters of Run HNL’s mission to help out others in need whenever possible.
“So incredibly grateful for HNL Run Group for organizing this fundraiser for one of my students whose house burned down and left them with nothing,” Bowman wrote. “So many generous donations were given this morning!”
Bowman plans on delivering the gift to the family as soon as possible.
This is just the beginning for HNL. The group’s generosity is just starting to take off, with other charitable events coming up later this year.
As posted on the running group’s Facebook page, “The power we have as a group is fueled by each of you and your willingness to step up and get the job done. Thanks for being you and helping us to take on bigger and better things in the future. There is absolutely no doubt that we can make positive change in our community with even larger projects. Keep doing what you’re doing.”
For more information on how you can get involved with HNL, visit runhnl.com.
