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Rain Or Shine By Chloe

  

“Seasons come and seasons go,” and so does the weather. Just like life, we all experience stormy times, and many bursts of sunshine. “April showers bring May flowers” and so on – there are hundreds of metaphors to associate our weather with what’s happening in our everyday lives. Everyone’s got dark clouds, and we try to look for silver linings.

When I think back to the earthquake in 2010, the deep tragedy that ensued in the lives of hundreds of thousands of people leaves me nearly at a loss for words. As the Gengel family lost Britney, I picture the rain pouring, the tears falling. My heart feels that sadness. But there was a rainbow..


 

This past Saturday, May 19th, was our very 1st Annual Be Like Brit 5k walk for Haiti in FLORIDA! The BLB Team and I have been working tirelessly to promote, market, and anticipate this inaugural event for the past few months, excited to finally bring our South Florida community together. As Brit attended Lynn University in Boca, has not only been the ideal location for our Florida Satellite Office, but also events! Many of the residents, here especially, remember the news coverage, photos of the earthquake, and hearing Britney’s story. Eight years later, we are revitalizing and energizing this region.


 

The water bottles were purchased; the volunteers were ready with their assignments. Lunch was arranged. Vendors booked their tables and sponsors were overwhelmingly gracious with their support. Cherylann, Bernie, Richie, and Mami Love were here in town ready to jump into action. I convinced my husband to be the DJ, and my little sister bravely accepted my plea for her to sing the national anthem. My mom and brother (despite his complaining) agreed to show up very early for setup. Final emails were sent to registrants and social media posts took over Facebook. I had heard that rain was forecasted for the weekend, but knowing that I could not control the weather, I went to bed the night before sans-stress and feeling like a giddy child on Christmas Eve.

And then the big day arrived.. I awoke to a dark sky accompanied by heavy rain; this was not normal rain though; it would be more accurately described as a monsoon. Talk about a metaphor for life and emotions! With large raindrops impaling the car at a 45 degree angle, I thought to myself, “We’re doing this thing, rain or shine.”

I won’t spare you with all of the intricate details about our gloomy experience setting up our walk site (flyers blowing away, shielding technology from the water, changing our entire blueprint map of tables 3 times because of the wind..) Cherylann, Love, and I were sadly chuckling at the downpour as our drenched, yet cheerful volunteers hopelessly tried tying balloons all over the pavilion. 9am struck and our attendees began to arrive. Almost immediately, our mood took a complete 180 turn. These incredible people began to show up in shocking numbers. Nearly all 100 of our pre-registered friends and family members walked proudly up to our table, clad in raincoats, hats, sneakers, and blue & yellow. They were positive, upbeat, and ready for the event despite the horrific weather!

 

What was even more incredible was the amount of people who showed up who DIDN’T pre-register. Dozens of people without tickets decided to come, too. This means that those people woke up when I did, looked outside at the rain like I did, put on their shoes like I did, and got in their car like I did.. Knowing that they didn’t have to. They were with us, rain or shine.. and in this case.. rain!


 

The downpour continued as we got closer to our start time. But then, like the flip of a switch, the rain stopped abruptly at 9:45am, at the exact time Cherylann and I planned on starting our program to welcome the group, telling Britney’s story, and starting our event. The skies parted, the rain ceased, we did a fun warmup with our fitness instructor Rosa, and kickoff began! How did this happen?!


 

Shocked and delighted, we lined the front of the race, high-fiving all of our 150 participants as they joyfully sprung into the course, full of positivity and ambition. In all my life, I will never forget how happy their faces were, with the gray sky in the background.




Once everyone had left the pavilion and was on the walk path, we had a deep belly laugh..


 

And so, as the final 10 walkers were finishing the 5k, the downpour restarted. Almost on the dot at the one-hour mark, the storm resumed. How did the rain stop at the exact time that our event was supposed to start? What a miracle; what a blessing.



The morning continued with heartwarming connection, fellowship, and community support. Friends reconnected, families enjoyed time together, and the event came to a close with such cheerful emotions from each individual.


 

On behalf of the entire Be Like Brit family and staff, I am unremittingly grateful for all of those who supported us for our very first event here in “sunny South Florida”(hah!) From our high schoolers, to volunteers, to long time friends of our organization, you all are what made this event possible. A HUGE thank you also goes out to our sponsors, who believed in what we do and donated generously to back our 1st 5k here. We are thrilled about the turnout, and excitedly await next year’s event to continue supporting the kids at Brit’s Home and the community of Grand Goave.


 

As you have figured out by now, the theme of this blog post is “rain or shine.” As the Gengel family experienced an unimaginable storm in their lives losing Brit, the text she sent expressing her desire to build an orphanage cloudy days. The faces of our 66 children are the May flowers after the April showers; there truly is so much hope that has overcome heartache. It’s Haiti, rain or shine.. and I’m pretty sure that this weekend after everyone walked the sun-lit path, Brit was dancing in the rain with us.

 


 

Love and gratitude,

 

Chloe Rits

Florida Director of Outreach

  

Special thanks to one of our Britsionarys, Kerin, for designing our shirts – and Romario Gardner Photography for capturing the joy of our event. All photos from the day can be found at: http://adobe.ly/2GA6ILM

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