Brooke Barthels runs down Wisconsin Street while completing an over 13 mile run Saturday morning as practice for the Oshkosh Half Marathon. By running the race, Barthels is trying to raise money for children in Cambodia. Oshkosh Northwestern photo by Laura MayApril 9, 2007
By Krista B. Ledbetter
of The Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin, USA)
Brooke Barthels will celebrate her 27th birthday on April 14, the same day she's running the Oshkosh Half Marathon. But before thinking of herself, she's got her mind on Cambodia.
Since returning from a three-month backpacking trip through Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in January, Barthels, of Oshkosh, has been training for both the Oshkosh half and Green Bay's Cellcom Marathon. But she's in it for more than the rush and the finishers medal. She's hoping to raise money for Cambodian orphanages.
"I've always been interested in helping with orphanages," the substitute teacher said.
After a war ended in Cambodia in 1979, children have been left without homes, without parents and with parents who can't afford to raise them.
"I was overcome with grief by how these children live," she said, after having spent time at a Cambodian orphanage during her time in Southeast Asia.
That's when she decided to help.
Barthel's ran her first half marathon in Japan, while in the country teaching, and followed that last year with the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee – her first full marathon.
"I've always worked out," she said. "And while abroad, the only way to stay fit was to run."
And she's certainly been abroad.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 2004, she looked into joining the Peace Corps until she found herself at an international job fair, where she landed a teaching job in Honduras. After Honduras, she taught in Japan for a year.
Today she's stateside, having returned to her family in Oshkosh after her most recent trip abroad. But in the fall she hopes to return to Cambodia, hopefully with some donated dollars to give to the Cambodian Children's Fund to help supply orphaned children with clothes, food and needed supplies.
She's hoping people will support her half marathon and marathon efforts with per-mile sponsorships or donations of any sum. After the Oshkosh race this weekend, her next fundraising race, the Cellcom Marathon, is May 20.
After Barthels returns to Southeast Asia in the fall, she hopes to volunteer at an orphanage in Africa. If enough money is raised, she hopes to be able to help out the African orphanage as well.
Krista B. Ledbetter: (920) 426-6656 or kledbetter@thenorthwestern.com
Since returning from a three-month backpacking trip through Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in January, Barthels, of Oshkosh, has been training for both the Oshkosh half and Green Bay's Cellcom Marathon. But she's in it for more than the rush and the finishers medal. She's hoping to raise money for Cambodian orphanages.
"I've always been interested in helping with orphanages," the substitute teacher said.
After a war ended in Cambodia in 1979, children have been left without homes, without parents and with parents who can't afford to raise them.
"I was overcome with grief by how these children live," she said, after having spent time at a Cambodian orphanage during her time in Southeast Asia.
That's when she decided to help.
Barthel's ran her first half marathon in Japan, while in the country teaching, and followed that last year with the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee – her first full marathon.
"I've always worked out," she said. "And while abroad, the only way to stay fit was to run."
And she's certainly been abroad.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 2004, she looked into joining the Peace Corps until she found herself at an international job fair, where she landed a teaching job in Honduras. After Honduras, she taught in Japan for a year.
Today she's stateside, having returned to her family in Oshkosh after her most recent trip abroad. But in the fall she hopes to return to Cambodia, hopefully with some donated dollars to give to the Cambodian Children's Fund to help supply orphaned children with clothes, food and needed supplies.
She's hoping people will support her half marathon and marathon efforts with per-mile sponsorships or donations of any sum. After the Oshkosh race this weekend, her next fundraising race, the Cellcom Marathon, is May 20.
After Barthels returns to Southeast Asia in the fall, she hopes to volunteer at an orphanage in Africa. If enough money is raised, she hopes to be able to help out the African orphanage as well.
Krista B. Ledbetter: (920) 426-6656 or kledbetter@thenorthwestern.com
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