In April of 2020, I found myself lying on the couch, eating reese cups, during the shut down, with little motivation to get moving. I know I feel better when I’m active, I think more clearly, I’m kinder to my family, but I, like many of us, had no motivation. I decided I needed a challenge- something to push myself out the door. (I may be a teeny bit competitive, even with myself and my goals) And thus was born my 1 month, 100 mile challenge. I shared my challenge to myself on instagram for accountability and had a friend (and BigHouse Board Member) ask to join me. We logged 100 miles in one month, getting us up and active and pushing ourselves to do more physically than we thought.
To log our final miles, we decided to meet up and run together. During our run we discussed how we thought we could convince a few more friends to join in for a round 2… we also figured we might could support BigHouse through this so we decided our goal would be to convince 30 friends to join us, ask everyone to pay $30 to be a part of our hustle, and make t-shirts commiserating our accomplishment! Once we started talking to others we realized a lot of folks were interested, but some weren’t quite ready to commit to 100 miles. We decided to create 3 goals, 1 mile a day (30 milers) ~2 miles a day (65 milers) and 3+ miles a day (100 milers)- we started posting on social media and asking friends to join. We reached 30 participants the first night. Over the course of the next week, counting down to our official Hustle Kick-Off date, we recruited 558 hustlers to join us for the first ever BigHouse Hustle!
Together, these 558 hustlers and 9 sponsors raised more than $23,000 for BigHouse. In a year when literally no one knew what tomorrow would hold, how shut downs and job loss and a global pandemic would effect non-profit fundraising, the BigHouse Hustle was truly a gift. The Lord provided a unique opportunity to help BigHouse fundraise while also getting a whole community of folks on their feet and out the door!
When we finished the first hustle we had so many participants who wanted a round two. We decided to make our BigHouse Hustle a Bi-annual event- and put the second BigHouse Hustle on the calendar for November.
For round 2, we had 648 hustlers and 6 sponsors raise over $28,000 for BigHouse! Another blessing to help us fundraise and see our dream of a new BigHouse become a reality! The Hustle proves to be a great community of individuals who want encouragement and accountability to meet their goals, while supporting a great cause. We have found something special with these hustlers and can’t wait to see what happens in 2021. Our next Hustle is May 1-31st!
