COLUMBIA, Md. — A Howard County man is planning to run 24 hours straight for a good cause during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dan Frank and his wife are both Montgomery County Public School teachers, but in his free time he's an avid trail runner who enjoys participating in marathons.
Beginning at 6 p.m. Friday, Dan will make his way through Columbia and surrounding areas to raise funds and awareness for the nonprofit Community Action Council of Howard County's Food Bank (CAC).
"The original motivation for the run was to raise enough money to try and bring the mobile food pantry run by CAC back to my children's school parking lot," said Dan. "We have many families in my community of Long Reach that use it to supplement their nutritional needs. After a discussion with the principal that this would not be currently feasible, I was reading online how the demand for services had skyrocketed coupled with a decline in donations, it seemed like an obvious choice to put the run on anyways and donate the money to CAC. My wife and I also teach at schools in Montgomery County where many of our families struggle with food insecurity, and although this fundraiser does not directly address our students I am definitely thinking of them," Dan said.
Before the run has even started, Dan has already raised $6000.
CAC President Bita Dayhoff says that's enough to buy food for 120 people. According to Dayhoff, $50 provides five-days of food for one person.
"If you had asked me my monetary goal a week ago I would have been excited to raise $1,000," said Dan. Now that we are up to somewhere between $5,000 and $6,000, depending on how far and fast I run, I get excited to think of how many families we can help feed and attention we can bring to this cause. It has been great to see such a big response from friends and family who want to support feeding local families."
During his run, Dan will carefully follow Maryland's social distancing guidelines.
You can follow his journey and donate here.
We here at WMAR-2 News wish Dan good luck.
