Iraqi Children Foundation to Host 4th Annual "In Their Shoes" 5K Run/Walk

February 1, 2016

US & Foreign Ambassadors, former diplomats and veterans join the Honorary Committee to raise awareness for Iraq’s most vulnerable

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — January 29, 2016 — The Iraqi Children Foundation (ICF) will host its 4th Annual “In Their Shoes” 5k run/walk on May 14, 2016 at the US Patent and Trademark Office in Alexandria, Virginia. The 5K is a benefit for Iraq’s most vulnerable children – orphans, street children, and kids displaced by ISIS.

According to the UN, more than one million children have been displaced since 2014 as ISIS advanced. Earlier, in 2012, UNICEF reported there were an estimated 800,000 orphans after 10 years of war.

Among the orphaned and displaced children are many who are desperately poor and working or begging on the streets. This humanitarian crisis poses a risk to the future of Iraq. Failure to act leaves these kids susceptible to despair, poverty, and recruitment by terrorists, criminals, and human traffickers.

Founded in 2007 by two Americans working in Iraq, the Iraqi Children Foundation works to bring awareness to the crisis facing Iraq’s children.

“It is hard to measure the sacrifice that so many Iraqis and Americans have made over the last decade. The families of those who died bravely strive to move forward despite immeasurable pain,” said Jonathan Webb – ICF Chairman and an Iraq War veteran. “We begin with the children. In them all nations find their hope and future,” added Mr. Webb.

Lukman Faily, Ambassador of Iraq to the U.S. will be joined on the Honorary Committee by Ambassador Samir Sumaida’ie (Ret.); Ambassador Ryan Crocker (Ret.); Ambassador Richard Schmierer (Ret.); Ambassador William Taylor (Ret.); Ambassador Ronald Neumann (Ret.); General David Petraeus (Ret.); Major General Jeffrey Buchanan; Dr. Jeremy Kohomban; Janice Chance, a Gold Star Mother; and Tony R. Culley-Foster.

Join us as we come together to run/walk for a day “in the shoes” of some of Iraq’s most vulnerable. Funds raised will go for tutoring, food, health care, trauma support, and other loving services for these children.

Click here to register.

For sponsorship opportunities: cindy@sicfiraq.org or 703.963.3832. Those unable to attend can support the cause by donating at http://sicfiraq.org/wp/donate/. For media inquiries, please contact:  kristin.roach1@gmail.com.