If you walked in Fallbrook on May 19, you probably noticed a guy with a video camera recording every step and doing interviews. That was Michael Bower, and he has finished editing the video from the Fallbrook night walk.

The clip is 10 minutes long, and reveals a lot about why the volunteers are looking forward to this summer’s experience. There were also quite a few people at the Fallbrook walk who are not going to be traveling to Beijing but still wanted to contribute to the cause, and it was neat to see that they recognized the value of what Bring Me Hope is doing enough to want to join in for an evening.

Check out the video below, and tell us what you think.

— Tom Pfingsten

David just posted more photos from the night walk on the main Bring Me Hope page. It’s fun to read the stories from all over the world. Make sure you see the photos from the crew of flight 8219. Also, there is a recording of the conference call where you can clearly hear the kids saying their names. It’s definitely worth checking out. Any thoughts you want to share can be posted here at the blog as a comment.

— Tom Pfingsten

It’s not often that you see fifty people walking down Main Avenue in Fallbrook on a Saturday night, let alone handing out glowing green bracelets and taking pictures of each other. I imagine the scene was similar in every community around the globe where Bring Me Hope supporters gathered to raise money during the night walk on Saturday. That the cause has drawn such far-flung support during its two years of existence is a testimony to the dedication of its staff, the passion of those who volunteer and, above all, the eternal significance of what is being done in the lives of Chinese orphans.

The night walk raised $15,000 in donations, motivated about 300 volunteers to hit the streets in 12 states and three countries, and paid for 60 orphans to attend camp this summer. (Of course, that is just the number that were paid for by this weekend’s fundraiser, not the total number of kids who will be at the camps.) Volunteers walked in the U.S. and Australia while a group of orphans walked in China. There was even a troupe of flight attendants walking the aisles of a plane bound for the Middle East, Bring Me Hope Director David Bolt said during the conference call preceding the walk, although the details of how he convinced them to participate in mid-air are still a mystery.

Following are some images from the May 19 night walk, taken by myself and Michael Chan, who designed this blog.

I stumbled across some footage on YouTube today that shows the orphans participating in the night walk on Saturday. It appears to have been posted by one of the young Chinese translators, and as of this post there were eight other videos of the event on the same profile. Click on More from this user to see the others.

It’s a little strange to watch, because it was midday in China when we walked here in the states – I assume it was daytime in Australia, too, for our Aussie teammates – but it’s neat to see some of the kids.

If you find or post other videos of the night walk, please let us know so we can link to them.

— Tom Pfingsten