By June Mathews
Just over a year ago, several Trussville-area individuals, each with a desire to help orphans around the world, joined forces to establish a nonprofit organization called No Longer.
The group’s ultimate challenge, said Blake Kersey, children’s minister at First Baptist Church Trussville and one of the nine co-founders of No Longer, is to work until there are “no longer” any orphans in need.
The new ministry set a goal of raising $200,000 to build an orphans’ village in the Dominican Republic, a place where around 40 orphaned children could live, go to school and eventually learn a trade.
On Saturday, the organization hosted its inaugural No Longer 5K Race, generating funds that pushed the amount raised close to the $100,000 mark. And the village that No Longer supporters have envisioned from the start is under construction and will likely open as soon as this summer.
“Things have moved along fairly quickly,” Kersey said. “We thought it would take three years to raise the money, but at this rate, it could happen much sooner.”
Between sponsorships and entry fees for more than 400 runners, the No Longer 5K raised nearly $15,000.
Planning for the event began in October, when Lisa Eagle, one of the moms leading FBCT’s Girls in God’s Image ministry suggested to Kersey that the nonprofit, with GiGi’s help, host a race to benefit No Longer’s goal of building an orphanage. Kersey liked the idea and knew other nonprofit organizations had experienced fundraising success with their own 5Ks.
“Events like these bring a lot of people out that you might not normally come into contact with,” he said
. “It’s a great way to spread the word and raise awareness for a cause, which in our case means creating advocates for ‘the least of these’ and influencing them to help No Longer provide for the orphans.”
Lead organizer for the race was Jeremy Walker, manager of the Target store in Oxford.
“We appreciate all our sponsors and runners, as well as all the family members and friends who came out to support us,” Kersey said. “God provided us with lots of sunshine, mild temperatures and a nice breeze Saturday, so it was perfect weather for the race.
“It was also a great day for No Longer.”
No Longer works in partnership with Global Orphan Project, a ministry that seeks to partner American groups with local churches overseas to develop villages for orphans.
For more information about No Longer, including the No Longer 5K results, visit www.no-longer.com.