By STEVEN CALHOUN/Staff Writer

Julia Davis is running to raise awareness and funds for children’s charities. Her project is called Must Act and is intended to bring people together in taking action.

The Must Act campaign is an idea Davis had after finding out Mustard Seed Mission was responsible for helping her get adopted as a baby. Had she not been adopted so quickly after her birth, she could have died from medical complications due to being born prematurely.

Davis said MSM saw a need and took action, and that is what she desired to do as well. After working for months with MSM and traveling to Taiwan, Davis decided to start Must Act.

“It was on my heart to do a fundraiser and then when I started researching them I found out they were already trying to raise money to rebuild the children’s home,” Davis said.

Davis will run to raise funds for the Agape Children’s Home in Taiwan. Typhoons have taken their toll on the walls and ceilings of the buildings, which house disadvantaged children who lack support from family.

“Taiwan is like a big city, like New York City … there’s millions of people and they build up,” Davis said. “The Mustard Seed home is like this little set of one story homes. It’s like going back in the past and all around it is tall buildings. They want to build a place that will be multifunctional for the community … something modern.”

The home does not have room for the children it could support. Many of the children the home supports are from single mothers who cannot care for them. They would like to rebuild so they have room to house the mothers and children.

This is the charity Davis has chosen, and she encouraged others to join her cause or to choose their own charity that supports children and join her in running between now and the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham, where Davis will be doing her fundraiser run.

“They can start their own [fundraising] page and run between now and February 12 when the Mercedes is and they can raise money for the charity they care about … We’ll all do it for our own individual thing, but we’re still doing it as an action all together,” Davis said. “They just need people to act and to care. Not just care, but to put action to what they care about.”

To learn more about Must Act, visit facebook.com/juliamustact or mymustact.weebly.com.

Davis requested if persons are raising funds as part of Must Act that they let her know so she can put their information on the Must Act Facebook page.