The tornados that ripped through Middle Tennessee in the beginning of March left many residents reaching out to Second Harvest for help. With the Coronavirus following next, those numbers have risen rapidly.
White, who had been training for a marathon that canceled due to COVID-19, decided to raise awareness for Second Harvest in a way that not many others could even think about doing - by running 100 miles in one day.
"Basically, I just thought that I'm going to go run 100 miles to raise awareness for a charity that is really hurting right now, but is still serving so many people in need," said White.
Starting at 5a.m. in Sylvan Park, White ran around the Downtown and East Nashville areas, using parts of the Greenway Trail and local parks to finish his run around 9p.m. It was a long day, but he didn't have to complete the 16 hour journey alone.
"I think I only ran about 15 of the 100 miles by myself because I had so many friends that wanted to help out," said White. "My wife ended up running 32 miles with me and the longest run that she has done in the past 4-5 months was only about 15. It was a very long day, but the weather was perfect; although I did get a pretty good sunburn!"
So how exactly was White able to raise money for Second Harvest? The organization set up a virtual food drive for White to share with his friends, family and neighbors.
Posting videos on his Instagram (@tonywhitetri) throughout his run, White ended up with over 2.5x his normal amount of viewers following along and encouraged them to donate. As the week has gone on, White's virtual food drive has now accumulated over $6,800 in donations!
In Middle Tennessee, 1 in 8 adults including 1 in 6 children struggle with hunger every day. For every $1 donated, Second Harvest can provide four meals to hungry children, families and seniors.
White has gone above and beyond to uphold Crye-Leike's Core Value of being a "good neighbor". To donate to White's virtual food drive, please visit http://shfbmt.convio.net/site/TR?px=1453069&fr_id=1311&pg=personal. White can be reached at tony.white@crye-leike.com.
ABOUT CRYE-LEIKE: Crye-Leike Real Estate Services (www.crye-leike.com), a full service real estate company for over 40 years, is ranked as the third largest independently-owned real estate firm in the nation and the largest serving Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and the Mid-South. Crye-Leike has more than 3,200 sales associates, over 800 employees and 140+ company-owned and franchise offices spread across nine states. It generated $6.5 billion in sales volume and 29,925 closed transaction sides corporate wide in 2019 - its biggest year ever - and is on track to achieve the company's goal of $6.8 billion in sales volume this year.