Many of you know that we are runners, and that we both love the Chicago marathon. While we are now training with plans to run the Berlin Marathon two weeks earlier, we felt like we didn’t want to miss out on the energy of our home course, especially after the pandemic cancelled everything last year. Some may call us dummies for taking on two marathons two weeks apart, but this organization stood out and made us want to help. We plan on raising funds as a team, so we can reach as many people as possible, and not double up on requests. Nice when you have a partner who is willing do do crazy things with you, right?

Anyone who doesn't live under a rock is aware of all the suffering and bloodshed happening in the Middle East. We have chosen to partner with Team Palestine for PCRF to help raise awareness and funds to provide medical and humanitarian relief to children throughout the Levant, regardless of their nationality, politics or religion. This will be Team Palestine’s 12th straight year participating in the Chicago Marathon, and for 2021 TP4PCRF is raising funds for the Safad Hospital in Baddawi Refugee Camp in Lebanon. Your donation will help support the humanitarian needs of tens of thousands of Palestinian and Syrian refugees in northern Lebanon  by providing much-needed medical equipment to open the new facility. Located in the Baddawi refugee camp near Tripoli, funds raised will help provide equipment for:

• Three operating theaters
• A recovery room
• An ICU
• An intensive care unit for neonates. 

Health services for refugees in Lebanon are impacted by poverty, the continued statelessness of the Palestinian population in Lebanon, as well as the deterioration of the economy and the Covid-19 pandemic. These factors have all contributed to grave humanitarian crises in Lebanon's refugee camps. All people deserve to have access to basic medical care, and your donation will help make that possible.