SARAH Jamieson just can't help herself.
The 33-year-old North Vancouver movement and performance coach has an unquenchable desire to give back. Also, she continues to challenge herself, raising the bar and pushing herself further and further.
Ten years ago, Jamieson set a 12-year goal to raise $1 million by her 35th birthday. Linking much of her philanthropic efforts with running, she called the quest RUN4ACAUSE and has since supported a variety of organizations.
"We can really make large impacts with small amounts of money or small amounts of effort," she says. "And that's been my goal with RUN4ACAUSE, is really using the power behind your talent, and mine just happens to be running, and so using that as a vehicle to raise awareness and raise support for organizations that are doing great work."
With two years to go, Jamieson has raised just shy of $800,000.
One of the organizations she's a strong supporter of is Care Canada, an international humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. Working in more than 80 countries, Care works in the areas of health, education, food security, clean water, economic opportunity, climate change and emergency response assistance.
One of Care's annual campaigns is Walk In Her Shoes, timed with International Women's Day, marked March 8. In light of the fact that women in poor communities around the world are required to walk for hours every day to perform basic tasks to keep their family alive, participants are encouraged to likewise walk and raise funds that will help Care in its mission to empower poverty-stricken women and girls.
For the last three years, Jamieson has organized Vancouver-area Walk In Her Shoes events and has continued to ramp up her support for the campaign. "The goal of Walk In Her Shoes is to challenge Canadians to walk six kilometres or 8,000 steps in someone else's shoes," she says. The first year, she organized a six-km walk and a film screening. Last year, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day, she endeavoured to run 100 km in one day and invited community members to join her for whatever leg they saw fit. She was honoured with a national top fundraiser award, having raised $4,500, which was partially matched by the Canadian International Development Agency.
This year's Walk In Her Shoes event is set for May 20. Jamieson plans to run 101 km and walkers/runners of all ages and fitness levels are invited to join her for all or a portion of the distance.
"My goal now is each consecutive year to bring it up one kilometre and to hopefully get more people on board to do it as a relay," she says.
The route, divided into a number of districts, starts at 6 a.m. at North Vancouver's North Shore Athletics and travels through Deep Cove, Edgemont Village, West Vancouver and Dundarave, Stanley Park, Kitsilano, UBC, and the Downtown Eastside, and ends around 9 p.m. at the Terry Fox memorial in Vancouver.
"Terry Fox was my first inspiration for running when I was in Grade 4 so it means a lot to me to be able to finish the 101 km there as well to go through the Downtown Eastside and celebrate the missing women and to get the Downtown Eastside women networked out as well," says Jamieson.
She hopes to raise $20,000 and attract 100 participants. Those interested are encouraged to register through Care's website, www. care.ca, and join Jamieson's team, "PB" & JAMS: RUN4ACAUSE - PB is an acronym for personal best - then choose which leg/legs they'd like to run and conduct fundraising.
Jamieson plans to spend the next three months promoting the event, getting participants geared up for whatever distance they're interested in completing and encouraging their fundraising efforts. She plans to hold film screening nights, and is available to speak to interested groups or schools who want to learn more about the campaign and Canada's role in international development. She's also looking to obtain additional corporate sponsors.
Jamieson isn't stopping there. In an impressive show of further commitment to the cause, last year on International Women's Day she committed to running six km a day for 365 days. She's missed a mere three days due to a case of food poisoning. Rather than complete the year March 8, in honour of the 2012 Walk In Her Shoes campaign, she's decided to continue, finishing on May 20, totalling 439 days. "We tend to look at International Women's Day as a celebration of how far we've come, but what I would like to do is focus on how far we still have to go," she says.
So far, Jamieson has tracked 3,170 km.
Jamieson is also busy with TEDxKids@BC and is helping organize upcoming events April 5 at Science World and another in October. "If I can empower youth and empower kids to look beyond the scope of what they see in their own community or even look to help their own community, it's well worth it," she says.
Jamieson credits two pivotal moments in her life with having inspired her interest in philanthropy and community activism.
"The first one was in 2006 when I went to Sudan and really saw what poverty, conflict and famine can do to a country, but also, how much hope and opportunity there is," she says.
Jamieson was amazed by the street children she met and how passionate they were about their life and what they desired to be when they grew up - doctors and teachers. They weren't getting three meals a day and were homeless, yet had such hope for the future.
Also, her mother, who struggled with bipolar disorder and alcohol addiction, passed away from suicide in 2008. "We really do have a moral responsibility to make this world a better place," she says.
"There should be no dichotomy or separation of what we coin 'give' versus 'take.' The natural cycle of life means a mutual respect for all, therefore 'be the change' is merely putting our moral responsibility into action. It's a way of life - inclusion," she adds.
For more information, visit www.care.ca or the "PB" & JAMS: RUN4ACAUSE Facebook event page. For more information, contact Jamieson at [email protected].
