Human Race fund raising kicks off

The challenge at hand was clear to the 300 high-spirited souls who converged at the Flamingo Hotel in Santa Rosa early Tuesday to launch the fund-raising drive for Sonoma County’s 2009 Human Race.

“Definitely, the organizations need the money more than ever,” attorney and consistent Human Race financial hero John O’Brien told those attending the Breakfast of Champions, kickoff to the May 9 Human Race.

Prior to last year’s race, O’Brien put the good-natured squeeze on colleagues, neighbors and friends and brought in more than $20,000 to his favorite Human Race charity, the American Cancer Society.

The crowd at Tuesday’s breakfast heard that last year employees of Exchange Bank once again outpaced all other local firms by generating nearly $80,000 in donations. And Sutter VNA & Hospice was again first among non-profits, using the Human Race as a platform for bringing in donations of almost $80,000.

In all, the 2008 Human Race produced more than $1 million for more 400 local non-profits and community endeavors.

Attorney O’Brien and other speakers at Tuesday’s launch breakfast urged the crowd to go all out this year to assure a strong flow of Human Race donations to organizations struggling through a hard time.

The Breakfast of Champions audience cheered a keynote address by Molly Barker, who’d hit bottom in her life when she founded Girls on the Run International. Based in North Carolina, the organization encourages girls to believe in themselves by training them to complete a 5-kilometer run.