Race for Home raises money for nonprofit that helps homeless families

People might not associate the town of Cary with homelessness, but Leslie Covington knows it can happen to anyone.

“It happens much easier now,” said Covington, executive director of The Carying Place, a nonprofit that teaches life skills to homeless families and helps with short-term housing. “You’ll have two parents working and suddenly the dad gets sick and you don’t have those two incomes anymore.”

On Monday, The Carying Place hosted its ninth annual Race for Home at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary to raise money and awareness for the nonprofit, which serves working families throughout the Triangle.

A group of students started a walk for The Carying Place as a fundraiser. Attendance has grown over the years for the race, which features a 10K, 5K and one-mile run.

More than 500 signed up for Monday’s event. Covington said it was scheduled for Labor Day so it wouldn’t compete with other races.

Some of the families who have been helped by The Carying Place attended.

“We invited all of our families, past and present,” Covington said. “It’s important for them to be here to give back or to say thank you – to stand here and be a part of this.”

Zaaron Williams and her son, Adonis, 7, are running partners. They signed up for Race for Home to share their passion while supporting a worthy cause.

“I love running, it’s a great release,” said Williams, a member of the Air Force currently stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro. “It helps me stay in good condition.

“And to be able to support a cause like this, that affects so many people, is great. (Homelessness) could happen to anyone, and that’s a scary thing. I’d want someone to help me if it happened to me and my family.”

Many people who receive services through The Carying Place haven’t been homeless before, and they might not know how to find help. The group focuses on money management and budgeting.

Homelessness doesn’t abide by stereotypes, Covington said, and she hopes the annual event helps break down barriers and encourages people in need to seek help.

“We call them the hidden homeless,” she said. “It could be anyone. It could be you or me and you probably know someone it’s happened to. This happens everywhere. It happens in Cary. They are us, we are them. Plenty of people live pay check to pay check. It doesn’t take much.”

She continued: “People don’t think of that as happening to them or the people they know or in their nice neighborhoods. But it’s a constant danger because people are always so close to that struggle.”

Covington said “not everyone is looking for a handout.”

“We try to give a hand up and teach people to do for someone else,” she said. “If you get stronger, then you can help someone else get stronger, too. Everyone needs a little help along the way, from time to time.”

For more information about The Carying Place, go to www.thecaryingplace.org.

This story was originally published September 5, 2016 at 12:46 PM with the headline "Race for Home raises money for nonprofit that helps homeless families."