FRISCO, Texas — If anyone is looking forward to the new year it’s David Lowe’s calves.
Every day in December, the 44-year-old father of two from Frisco ran a half marathon. That’s more than 400 miles in 31 days.
What drives someone to do that?
“To continue to want to be fruitful for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas was a big part of my motivation,” Lowe said.
Lowe first raised money for Make-A-Wish when he was at an all-time low.
Back in 2010, he says he was lonely, depressed and drowning in alcohol.
“I was like, ‘I can’t continue to do this because this is not who I am,’” he said. “And that’s where I got the idea, December 7, 2010, okay today’s the day I’m going to do something different.”
What he did was ventured to the local mall and played his saxophone.
Lowe, who’d always loved music, played his saxophone at the mall thinking it might make him feel better.
“Little did I know people would start depositing money in my saxophone case as tips,” he said. “I’m like, ‘I can’t keep this money. It just doesn’t feel right.’”
So, he took the $300 he made that day and gave it to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, just as he has done every day in December for the past 11 years.
“The experience I gained from that, how it just lit my spirit and the joy in my heart for other people was really just a turning point in my life, absolutely,” Lowe said.
This year he didn’t have time to play music at the mall, but still wanted to raise money for Make-A-Wish, so he challenged himself by running.
Since 2010, he’s raised more than $100,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
“To do that for somebody else, to be selfless like that, that’s unorthodox these days and we need a lot more helpers,” he said.
It’s a good reminder, as we head into the new year especially, that to make the world better, going the extra mile is a good first step.