How To Eat Spaghetti with Chop Sticks
This past weekend, the town of Washington came together to pull their version of The Amazing Race. The race benefits Ruth’s House, a local organization that works as shelter to women and children coming from a domestic violence situation while they rebuild their lives. North Carolina ranks among the top 10 states for instances of domestic violence. The founders of Ruth’s House determined to be the interruption in the cycle of violence, all the while giving all the glory to God as an ecumenical Christian organization. They provide education to the families they help as well as the community, counseling services to victims, court support, and a safe house to all women regardless of their faith.
In 2014, Ruth’s House organized “Our Amazing Race”. It’s a scavenger hunt patterned after the television show. It’s challenging, it’s physical, it’s FUN! Teams of 2 race against each other from the starting point to solve clues to find their way to challenge stations. At each station, they must complete a challenge to use the next clue to find the next station. In all, the race covers nearly 10 miles on foot and a couple of bus rides along the way. It’s quite the adventure!
First South Bank sponsored a team of two employees — Nikki Klapp, Marketing Coordinator, and Kim Asby, Cash Management Specialist. The ladies came in 5th place, and we are so proud of their efforts! We were also represented by summer intern, John Tate. John will be interning during his summer break from college in our Mortgage Servicing department. John joined his good friend, Lee Hodges, in the challenge and walked away with FIRST PLACE!
John shares his experience with us:
I got a call from my friend and teammate Lee Hodges asking me if I wanted to compete in a charity race for a chance at winning a thousand dollars. So, being a broke college student, I naturally said “Of course.” We were sponsored by a doctor’s office in Greenville, hence the team name “I-V Leaguers”. I have never seen the TV show, so I had no idea how the race was going to be set up. We showed up to the race not fully knowing what to expect. Other teams were stretching; some people had already gone for a run that morning, and we were just sitting on the ground waiting for this thing to start.
Right when we started, we read half of a clue and took off in the wrong direction. When we realized that we had gone to the wrong location, we stopped and figured out every clue, with the help of a random couple that we met, and then we were off. Our first challenge was to read a sentence in Dutch. This was rather challenging for me even when the sentence was read to me 5 times. We then took off to Ruff Kuttz where we had to shave a balloon.
Next was the waterfront where we had to canoe around a buoy in the middle of the river. We didn’t start off too hot on that station because Lee sat down backwards, I had trouble getting him to turn around in the canoe. Our next challenge was for me to feed Lee a plate of spaghetti. The tricky part was that I was blind folded and was given a pair of chop sticks. We then ran to Havens Gardens where we had to whip egg whites.
We then flagged down a bus and told them where we needed to go. The crazy thing was that the bus drivers couldn’t tell us if we were going to the right place or not. The next stop was a farm where there were several challenges. The hardest challenge we had to complete was on the farm, and that was to stack bolts on top of each other. This challenge was especially frustrating because only Lee could do it, I wasn’t allowed to help. While we struggled, two other teams ran up and did the challenge in less than 30 seconds (one of which was the First South Bank team). From the farm, we took the bus back to the hospital where the challenge was the game Operation, and I had been waiting my whole childhood for that moment.
From there we ran to A Cut Above hair salon, and on the way Lee looked at me and said “This is so much fun, I don’t even care if we win or not.” I agreed with him (although I still really wanted to win). From the hair salon we ran to Grace Lutheran Church out on Market Street where we had to play croquet with one arm. Then, we ran back to Inner Banks Dental on 15th Street where Lee and I had to work together to put together a puzzle. Did I mention Lee was blindfolded? We took a bus to Wal-Mart, and I had to dress up like a pirate and collect $10 from random people going in and out of Wal-Mart. I think going to ECU really helped me with this challenge because I played the pirate perfectly. We jumped a fence behind Wal-Mart and ran to Athletic Edge where we had to make three goals on one of the goalie volunteers. Our last stop was the Fire Station on Market Street where we were faced with the most exhausting challenge. I had to unroll a firehose and fill up a trash can with buckets of water.
When we left I told Lee that we couldn’t stop until we get to the finish line but at that point we were exhausted and walked most of it back. Walking up to the finish line we were initially surprised that we had won and the second place team arrived only 5 minutes after us. It was an amazing experience that I am extremely thankful that I was a part of. Ruth’s House is an amazing charity that helps so many people who are victims of domestic violence and I’m just happy I could be a part of it.
For more information on Ruth’s House or to see photos from the race, visit their website. You can also find ways to support their cause financially or through volunteer work.
