SAN ANGELO, TX – Julie Ramirez, a former San Angeloan who now lives in north Texas, is taking her artistic talents and career to benefit a wonderful cause. This coming Sunday, November 6, she will be part of the team “Free Arts NYC,” and running a marathon in New York City.
Ramirez, who was raised in San Angelo, always had a love for the arts, and began to draw and paint at a young age. Her father, who was a graphic designer for Goodfellow Air Force Base, “was one of my inspirations,” Ramirez said. During her school years at Central High School, she was also a track athlete and qualified for the school’s state track meet. After high school, Ramirez initially attended Angelo State University. Then she transferred to the University of North Texas, where she received a BFA in Communication Design. Currently, Ramirez lives in the Dallas area working as a graphic designer for RBMM, a design firm.
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Running marathons is not new to Ramirez. It all began with running a half marathon in Dallas in 2012. A couple of years later, in 2014, Ramirez participated in San Angelo’s “West Texas Half Run.” She has been running in New York’s Central Park on and off when visiting family in the Big Apple. Now, Ramirez will be running in New York City again.
Ramirez said she was intrigued by the TCS NYC Marathon because “there are a lot of charities and non profits you could run for, so not only do you run the race, but there is also the component of running for a cause.”
So what is the TCS New York City Marathon? The marathon’s slogan reads, “Get your giving on. Add meaning to your miles;” and, on the marathon’s homepage, organizers describe the event as a place where “every single TCS New York City marathoner, supporter and volunteer can unite to contribute towards the goal of raising funds for charities across the world.”
A marathon with a philanthropic purpose was what inspired Ramirez. When deciding on which organization team to join, Ramirez went for one that supported her other passion: the arts. Thus, she decided to join the Free Arts NYC marathon team. Free Arts NYC is a non-profit organization that provides underserved children with a unique combination of educational arts and mentoring programs, helping them to foster their self-confidence and the resilience needed to realize their fullest potential.
Each charity or non-profit organization participating in the TCS New York City Marathon sets up its own crowdfunding page to which people can contribute. Individual marathoners can also create their own crowdfunding link, allowing them to collect donations from their family and friends toward their chosen cause. Ramirez also set up her own crowdfunding page; yet, she decided that she wanted to “include something […] that could help spread awareness for art support,” and she decided to “create some art that could ultimately benefit their mission of art access, education and mentoring.”
Hence, she created special art pieces that could be purchased via her own webpage, and the proceeds of the sale of these art pieces would go towards Free Arts NYC. Her website containing her art can be found here.
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With less than three days left until the race, Ramirez is “really excited.”
“It has been a long training season,” she said.
She added that she's “really happy to have had all of the support [she] has received so far.” The best thing for Ramirez is “to be able to connect with people wherever they are [and] come together for one cause.”
As stated, the TCS NYC Marathon takes place this Sunday, November 6. Runners will cover a total distance of 26.2 miles. To support Ramirez and her cause of keeping good arts education alive for underprivileged children and youth, please visit her personal crowd-funding page, or the Free Arts NYC crowd-funding page. You can find more information about the TCS NYC Marathon on its website here.
LIVE! would like to cheer on Ramirez as she runs for a great cause this coming weekend.
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