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Pat's Virtual Run Across America
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- North America
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Location Date California 1503702000 Arizona 1500073200 New Mexico 1490914800 Texas 1486166400 Louisiana 
1463698800 Mississippi 1457740800 Alabama 1456012800 Florida 1453507200 -
Location Date Vinton 1463698800 Iowa 1463007600 Jennings
1461970800 Lafayette 1461625200 Grosse Tete 1460761200 Baton Rouge 1460156400 Walker 1459551600 Hammond 1458950400 Abita Springs 1458345600
Greetings from Jennings, LA & April Charity Reveal!
Run Stats:
Day: 121
Miles Completed: 451.6
Miles to San Diego: 1648.4
Avg Miles/Day: 3.8
Marathons Completed: 17.2
Bible Verse of the Day: For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
Run Reflections: Well, its another beautiful Saturday on the gulf coast. Things are starting to heat up a little here in Panama City so I've had to increase my daily water intake. I had a pretty good running week, with 2, 6 mile runs in the past two days. Virtually speaking, I'm still heading west on I-10 and will be reaching the town of Jennings, LA in the next day or two. In this post, I will share a little about Jennings and also ID this month's charity.
Jennings, LA: Jennings is a small city and is the parish seat for Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana near Lake Charles. The town was named after Jennings McComb, a contractor of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The first settler was A. D. McFarlain, who came from St. Mary Parish in 1881. McFarlain was the community’s first rice grower, merchant, postmaster, brick maker, and builder. Following McFarlain, the Jennings area was settled by Anglo wheat farmers from Iowa, Kansas and other Midwestern states. One particular settler, Sylvester L. Cary, came to the area "seeking a home where there was neither winter or mortgages." He was apparently so impressed by the area that he actively sought to encourage his Midwestern buddies to join him. I guess these folks were some of our first area snowbirds :-) Agriculture and the land/timber business remained primary economic driver for this city. In 1901, Jennings was the location of the first oil well and oil field in the state of Louisiana. Oil brought a boom to the town but this was only a peak in its continuous growth. When oil production declined, the basic agricultural economy kept the town prosperous. The town motto of Jennings is "The Cradle of Louisiana Oil."
In looking around for interesting aspects of Jennings to share, I found the attached picture of the W. H. Tupper General Merchandise Museum. Mr. Tupper began operating his store in 1910 in a rural community just north of Jennings. According to the museum website (tuppermuseum.com), "The Coushatta Indians, who still live north of Jennings in the town of Elton, once brought their pine needle baskets to the store to trade for food and other merchandise. When he closed the doors in 1949, the complete inventory remained on the shelves, undisturbed, until 1971." It remained there until his grandson Joe donated the items to create the museum. Today it provides a "unique glimpse of nearly every facet of early twentieth century life in rural Louisiana." Visitors can "experience a simpler time when townsfolk picked up their mail, bought groceries, shopped for notions and toys and caught up on the news - all at the same place."
I don't know about you but I think it's really cool that places like this are still around. Learning about the history of these little towns and discovering places like this have been some of the most fun aspects of this blog series for me.
April charity: The charity I have chosen to support this month is world vision micro. As a family, we've supported the World Vision organization for many years. I first came across the micro loan part through participation in the Leadercast conferences. Here's a little information on what this is and how it works. Full details, including how you can get involved can be found on their web site: worldvisionmicro.org.
World Vision Micro works in nearly 100 countries around the globe to provide loans to hopeful entrepreneurs in under developed regions. Micro finance gives hardworking people who might not qualify for a traditional loan the opportunity to move from dependence on aid to financial self-sustainability - empowering them to change their own lives and the lives of their children. The average loan is $350 and has a 98% repayment rate. Many loans are much less. When the repayment starts, the real transformation begins. Once a loan is repaid, the money is used to fund another hardworking person in that same area, creating a ripple effect to help break the cycle of poverty and support community development.
The web site provides a variety of ways to potentially get involved including browsing through a list of entrepreneur profiles to choose a specific individual to support. In the month of April, I was able to run just over 100 miles so we will donate $100 to world vision micro. After browsing the list of entrepreneurs, I chose to give $25 each to complete loan funding for 4 different people: Muntakilu S from Ghana who runs a store and is using the loan to purchase yams; Cruzephine V from the Philippines the raises hogs and is using the loan for more pig feed; Wilma S from the Philippines who raises livestock and is using the loan to purchase pigs and pig feed; and Julie D who runs a store in the Philippines who is using the loan to purchase pigs to sell.
These amounts might not seem like much here in the US but there is no telling how it might help both these individuals and their communities. I think this is also a great reminder that an act of generosity does not have to be large to make a difference. Sometimes something as simple as a smile or a word of encouragement can change someones day.
Well there you have it folks, I'm 4 months into this journey is just a little behind the planned pace. I've learned a lot already through this and look forward to seeing what's ahead.
Hope you have a great week!
God Bless,
Pat
Run Stats:
Day: 121
Miles Completed: 451.6
Miles to San Diego: 1648.4
Avg Miles/Day: 3.8
Marathons Completed: 17.2
Bible Verse of the Day: For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 (NLT)
Run Reflections: Well, its another beautiful Saturday on the gulf coast. Things are starting to heat up a little here in Panama City so I've had to increase my daily water intake. I had a pretty good running week, with 2, 6 mile runs in the past two days. Virtually speaking, I'm still heading west on I-10 and will be reaching the town of Jennings, LA in the next day or two. In this post, I will share a little about Jennings and also ID this month's charity.
Jennings, LA: Jennings is a small city and is the parish seat for Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana near Lake Charles. The town was named after Jennings McComb, a contractor of the Southern Pacific Railroad. The first settler was A. D. McFarlain, who came from St. Mary Parish in 1881. McFarlain was the community’s first rice grower, merchant, postmaster, brick maker, and builder. Following McFarlain, the Jennings area was settled by Anglo wheat farmers from Iowa, Kansas and other Midwestern states. One particular settler, Sylvester L. Cary, came to the area "seeking a home where there was neither winter or mortgages." He was apparently so impressed by the area that he actively sought to encourage his Midwestern buddies to join him. I guess these folks were some of our first area snowbirds :-) Agriculture and the land/timber business remained primary economic driver for this city. In 1901, Jennings was the location of the first oil well and oil field in the state of Louisiana. Oil brought a boom to the town but this was only a peak in its continuous growth. When oil production declined, the basic agricultural economy kept the town prosperous. The town motto of Jennings is "The Cradle of Louisiana Oil."
In looking around for interesting aspects of Jennings to share, I found the attached picture of the W. H. Tupper General Merchandise Museum. Mr. Tupper began operating his store in 1910 in a rural community just north of Jennings. According to the museum website (tuppermuseum.com), "The Coushatta Indians, who still live north of Jennings in the town of Elton, once brought their pine needle baskets to the store to trade for food and other merchandise. When he closed the doors in 1949, the complete inventory remained on the shelves, undisturbed, until 1971." It remained there until his grandson Joe donated the items to create the museum. Today it provides a "unique glimpse of nearly every facet of early twentieth century life in rural Louisiana." Visitors can "experience a simpler time when townsfolk picked up their mail, bought groceries, shopped for notions and toys and caught up on the news - all at the same place."
I don't know about you but I think it's really cool that places like this are still around. Learning about the history of these little towns and discovering places like this have been some of the most fun aspects of this blog series for me.
April charity: The charity I have chosen to support this month is world vision micro. As a family, we've supported the World Vision organization for many years. I first came across the micro loan part through participation in the Leadercast conferences. Here's a little information on what this is and how it works. Full details, including how you can get involved can be found on their web site: worldvisionmicro.org.
World Vision Micro works in nearly 100 countries around the globe to provide loans to hopeful entrepreneurs in under developed regions. Micro finance gives hardworking people who might not qualify for a traditional loan the opportunity to move from dependence on aid to financial self-sustainability - empowering them to change their own lives and the lives of their children. The average loan is $350 and has a 98% repayment rate. Many loans are much less. When the repayment starts, the real transformation begins. Once a loan is repaid, the money is used to fund another hardworking person in that same area, creating a ripple effect to help break the cycle of poverty and support community development.
The web site provides a variety of ways to potentially get involved including browsing through a list of entrepreneur profiles to choose a specific individual to support. In the month of April, I was able to run just over 100 miles so we will donate $100 to world vision micro. After browsing the list of entrepreneurs, I chose to give $25 each to complete loan funding for 4 different people: Muntakilu S from Ghana who runs a store and is using the loan to purchase yams; Cruzephine V from the Philippines the raises hogs and is using the loan for more pig feed; Wilma S from the Philippines who raises livestock and is using the loan to purchase pigs and pig feed; and Julie D who runs a store in the Philippines who is using the loan to purchase pigs to sell.
These amounts might not seem like much here in the US but there is no telling how it might help both these individuals and their communities. I think this is also a great reminder that an act of generosity does not have to be large to make a difference. Sometimes something as simple as a smile or a word of encouragement can change someones day.
Well there you have it folks, I'm 4 months into this journey is just a little behind the planned pace. I've learned a lot already through this and look forward to seeing what's ahead.
Hope you have a great week!
God Bless,
Pat
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