"It's organizations like Empower Another that this region so desperately needs."
-- Christine Stevens: US Government HIV/AIDS Program Coordinator
2007
I learned I won a lottery slot entry into the
Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii after trying for several years -- statistically
a truly
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Two days later, my children and I left for
Africa for another once-in-a lifetime experience, where we visited an old
friend
based at the US Embassy in Swaziland. We went on safari at Kruger National
Park in South Africa and spent our remaining time embracing the local
Swazi culture and interacting with the local Swazi
children, many of them orphaned by AIDS and other diseases in this poverty
stricken nation. After my children witnessed the circumstances of these
children who
were the exact same age and younger, we returned to the US recognizing we
have opportunities that most of these children will never see in their
lifetime and asked ourselves the question, "How did they get picked to be them and we get picked to be us?"
As I started training for the Ironman, I knew I had to take our good
fortune and use my
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at the Ironman to somehow pass it
on to others. The opportunity of using this high profile race to raise
funds to start empowering the children we met became obvious . . . and 
was
born.
-- Thom Krauss
Founder, Empower Another