Raising money for a marathon is one thing, but Rod Carpenter took the initiative to run in his own marathon and raised tens of thousands of dollars for veterans, all while honoring a fallen police officer.
Carpenter has been running for decades. After putting a pause to his running career in 2006 for knee surgery, he came back in 2013 and started running marathons to honor police officers and raise money for various charities.
“God just laid it on our heart," says Carpenter. "It’s like, what’s the odds of an old guy like me with a knee replacement, that you give him running back, and we just figured there had to be a reason, and eventually we figured out we could raise money doing this.”
Carpenter was able to raise nearly $30,000. The money was raised for Lots for Soldiers who build homes for veterans, and Carpenter ran in memory of Sgt. Douglas Springer of the Coldwater police department. Springer was a 20 year veteran of the police department who had a fatal heart attack while serving. Carpenter ran the whole 26.2 miles carrying a flag, which he then handed off to the children of the late Springer.
Jessica Williams, daughter of Springer says, “To lose my father in the line of duty was very hard. I was 20 years old. He’s missed all my children, he’s missed my wedding, you know, he’s never met any of his grandkids. To remember my father like this, is very nice, very touching, and I feel very, very honored.”
Lots for Soldiers was overwhelmed with the fundraising efforts from Carpenter, and says that the money raised from his marathon will take care of a large portion of the funds needed to build their next house.
Mary Rosengarten, the president of Lots for Soldiers says, “I mean, we were just kind of shocked that he would do that, but he loves the veterans, he’s all about the veterans, so we knew that it was in his heart to do something like that.”
