A Second Run for Charities’ Sake

This time around he’s bringing only six pairs of shoes. A year ago, his first time running the length of California, Tom Jones, 36, burned through 14 pairs.

But the Huntington Beach man is hoping experience will make the difference, both in his run and his fund-raising efforts. With a goal of raising $250,000 for children’s charities, Jones plans to make the 1,080-mile trek from the Oregon line to the Mexican border in 49 days.

Along the way, he will speak about the plight of abused and neglected children.

It’s a story he knows from experience. Jones, a three-time national kick-boxing champion, spent a decade of his childhood in a Masonic children’s home in Covina, where he found refuge from an abusive father. If not for the help of many people over the years, Jones said, he may have ended up in serious trouble.

On 20-mile average daily runs starting Wednesday, Jones said he will think about the violence that has erupted at schools this year, particularly the massacre of 12 students and a teacher by two classmates in Littleton, Colo.

“Children and their parents need to learn better anger-management skills,” Jones said. “I know people can change, because I did. That scares me more than anything; how I could have been. I would have been one of the worst.”

Jones said he has already raised $100,000 toward his goal from corporate sponsors including 24 Fitness, Viking Components and Kingston Technology. The operating budget for the run is $47,000, Jones said.

He fell short of his $250,000 goal last time around, raising about $100,000 for Orangewood Children’s Home, Orange County’s shelter for abused children. Jones said money raised this year will go to Orangewood and other children’s charities.

And he said he is only getting started. Next year, Jones, a motivational speaker and personal trainer, hopes to make a run across America, running 50 miles a day and raising money for children across the nation.

“I know it makes a difference,” Jones said. “I’ve raised money and put it in the hands of organizations that help children who don’t have anywhere else to go. I know because I’ve been there, too.”