Q&A with Kris Belding
Raising Funds for Great Escape Foundation
SocialMiami.com’s Allison Weiss Brady interviews South Beach Diet fitness consultant and fitness model Kris Belding on her upcoming whirlwind travel adventures to raise money for the GreatEscape Foundation. In addition to GreatEscape, Belding is involved with Diabetes Research Institute, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation and HOPS (The Healthier Options for Public Schoolchildren study).
AWB: What’s the name of the travel adventure competition you are going on?
The Global Scavenger Hunt…a blind date with the world. It is a 23 day trip around the world. We leave from Seattle and land in Boston. We don’t know where we are going in between and will be given clues and riddles to try and figure out our next location and scavenger challenge.
AWB: What’s the Miami connection to your travel adventures?
Two teams of two from Miami are competing in a global scavenger hunt throughout 10 countries and
four continents to raise money for various goodwill organizations. There are 15 teams of two people from all over the world in the race. Four teams have competed in past global scavenger hunts. The purpose of the trip is to raise over $1 million through donations, pledges per kilometer traveled.
AWB: What non-profits will be benefiting from your fundraising efforts?
Over 20 non-profits will benefit including Special Olympics International , Habitat for Humanity , and the US Fund for UNICEF, which all have chapters in Miami. In previous years some of the scavenger hunts were to work with or for some the agencies that are supported through the global scavenger hunt.
AWB: What’s your connection to South Beach Diet?
I am the contributing fitness consultant for South Beach Diet. You can see me in the South Beach Diet books, website, and other publications. South Beach Diet is headquartered on Meridian Avenue in South Beach.
AWB: What do you think had been the best tip you’ve given to the latest book South Beach Diet Supercharged?
I love the 20 minute interval program and body shaping and strengthening program. What an amazing way to rev your metabolism and get you past any weight-loss plateaus.
AWB: Can you give us a great tip about what to eat before attending a gala to help look fabulous in your dress?
Nothing! Of course, I am kidding but it is a well known secret to cut out any white breads or sugar three days before the event.
AWB: When traveling for your scavenger hunt, how will you manage eating healthy when you don’t know what countries or anywhere you’ll be going?
Good question, I do not know, that is the “blind date” – the unknown part of the scavenger hunt. But I will bring some snack bars and nuts for snacks while traveling.
AWB: How does Global Scavenger Hunt decide what charity receives what money? Do you decide or is it split evenly? Please explain.
The GreatEscape Foundation board reviews the donation options. The main focus is international organizations that work with or support the education of children and they are now focusing on micro-loans. GreatEscape has found that adopting villages and more grassroots approaches to building and funding schools were the ultimate way to make a difference. Focusing funding in smaller areas makes a bigger impact. So far they have built schools Sri Lanka, Niger and Sierra Leone.
For more information or to help sponsor by making a donation please contact Kris Belding through her blog or Global Scavenger Hunt at 310-281-7809 or GlobalScavengerHunt.com.
Allison Weiss Brady handles marketing for celebrities and non-profits. She is active in many organizations in South Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania including Big Brothers Big Sister, The Community Coalition, Voices Against Brain Cancer, Gene Spotlight, The Barton G. Kids Hear Now Foundation, and one of her family’s foundations Say Yes to Education, which recently partnered with Quincy Jones. Weiss Brady and her husband Chip Brady are members of Art Basel’s Junior Host Committee and Weiss Brady is a member of the Vizcaya Preservation Luncheon Founding Committee. She on the Board of Advisors at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice and she’s the only female on the university’s Football Board. Weiss Brady was also the sole recipient of the University of Pennsylvania’s 2008 Young Alumni of the Year Award, and serves on the Overseers board for the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania.
