GlassHouse » run http://www.ruthmunson.com/blog A chronicle about transparent government, new media, empowered voters, a little bit of politics, and the personal side of my run for the Illinois House of Representatives by Ruth Munson. Sun, 15 May 2011 00:49:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 90 days http://www.ruthmunson.com/blog/2010/01/90-days/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=90-days http://www.ruthmunson.com/blog/2010/01/90-days/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 14:17:05 +0000 Ruth Munson http://www.ruthmunson.com/blog/?p=213

On January 15, 2010 Bruce began his 3,000 mile run across the United States in Jacksonville FL. He hopes to finish it on April 15 in Morro Bay, CA.

Bruce Johnson is a new friend of mine. We’ve met a couple of times in person over the last several months, but my communications with him of late have been via Facebook and e-mail. Bruce is running 3,000 miles across the United States to build awareness about domestic violence and to raise funds for the Community Crisis Center, our local domestic violence shelter. He did it once before in 2005, but most of us didn’t know about it then. The newspapers wrote an article or two but we just didn’t have the tools to follow along on his journey and keep his efforts front and center in the public’s mind. Twitter didn’t exist and Facebook was used by college students, not by the general public.
 
His 2010 run started last week and now thousands of people are aware of his effort because of Twitter, Facebook and Cinch. His fans are cheering him on, donating to the cause and getting the word out through their networks.
 
This time around his efforts are even more important to the Community Crisis Center.
 
Like all of the social service agencies in our state, the Community Crisis Center is feeling the impact of the budget mess in the State of Illinois. While it continues to provide services to families, the state has not paid its bills and lived up to its obligations. Last summer, when the Crisis Center was on the verge of severe service cuts and feared it would be unable to keep its doors open, the community sprang into action, raising more than $160,000 in three weeks—a good deal of which came from a social media campaign. Traditional fundraisers—along with new, smaller efforts have helped fill-in the gaps. Coupled with budget cuts, employee layoffs and staff furloughs, those funds were just enough to keep the doors open for a little while longer.
 
And now, Bruce is running to ensure the Crisis Center is there for a few more months.
 
Our local community is doing all we can to keep a valued and vital resource available to those most in need. Now, the State of Illinois has to step up, pay its bills and fix its budget problems.
 
You can help. Talk to your lawmakers about your spending priorities for the state. Let them know about the organizations in your communities that need their help. The Illinois State Board of Elections provides a legislative look-up feature on its website to help you identify your legislators and you can access contact information for legislators at Illinois General Assembly site.
 
Bruce Johnson is committed to completing his 3,000 mile run in 90 days. He hopes to motivate enough individuals to contribute to a cause that is so important to him that he is willing to not only donate months of his time – but also his body, heart and soul. While I wouldn’t last 5 miles as a runner, I have made a contribution, I can make sure others know about his efforts and I will be advocating on behalf of our social service agencies during the 90 days that Bruce is running…and, throughout the rest of the year.
 
Hope you will too.
 
Oh, and: Go Bruce!
 

]]> http://www.ruthmunson.com/blog/2010/01/90-days/feed/ 0