Berzerker Blitz will consist of three races starting at the soccer fields: the individual run at 1 p.m., the group run at 4 p.m. and the glow run at 8 p.m. Over nine obstacles will be included in
the first two races with a DJ to perform throughout the afternoon and evening. A portion of participants’ race fees will go toward supporting Letters in Motion, an organization that that directly support Christian-based Nepali orphanages.
A now six-month old organization, Letters in Motion was founded to support impoverished children, specifically orphans, living in Nepal.
John Sellers, junior psychology major at the University of Tennessee at Martin and founder of Letters in Motion, said his desire to serve the impoverished orphans in Nepal came from the multi-generational influence of his family’s effort to start and maintain multiple orphanages in Nepal, where he lived for a one and a half years as a teenager.
“While I was living there, I became very burdened about poverty and about specifically how kids were affected by that and how many orphans there were,” Sellers said. “I came back to the university with this burden of trying to get people involved.”
Sellers struggled with getting people involved during his early efforts to support Nepali orphans, but he soon came up with the idea to have supporters write personal letters to children in Nepal.
“I got my friends to do it, and I told some other people about it and it spread,” Sellers said. “we [decided] to start a letter movement, so we came up with a goal of collecting 3,000 handwritten letters to carry on our trip in June to hand out to orphans over Nepal.”
Sellers has seen much support to accomplish this goal, as over 10 universities pledged support including local Jackson churches, Sellers said.
Since the recent earthquakes in Nepal, Sellers’ goal to visit the country June 8-24 this year has been altered so that members of the team will use the short-term emergency fund they are raising to meet the physical needs of victims. Proceeds of the Blitz race will contribute to this fund.
With that money, over the next five years the organization plans to distribute letters to orphans, hand out disaster relief supplies to earthquake victims and create a plan for rebuilding orphanages.
“It means a lot for me to have an outlet to help people who desperately need help,” said Elizabeth Hellmer, Jackson State alumnae and videographer of Letters in Motion.
As the event director of Berzerker Blitz, Hellmer met with Union sororities and fraternities for help to build the course obstacles along with other students and members of the community.
In addition to encouraging the writing of letters to orphans and raising funds from the sale of their apparel, Letters in Motion is using their partnership with Berzerker Blitz as an exciting way for people to get involved to support the organization, said Sellers.
“We plan to hold it at Union again next year as far as we can go with it,” Hellmer said.
For more information about Letters in Motion, visit their website, www.lettersinmotion.com and visit www.berserkerblitz.com to learn more about the weekend races.
