Three years ago, Liz Strathy-Merrill and her husband Nick Merrill used their love of running to help raise money to build wells in African villages by running 200 miles from Portland to their Newport Shores home.

Two weeks ago, the couple was at it again.

After the success of their last endeavor, which helped to build eight wells at $3,500 apiece, the couple knew they wanted to reach out again and of course, they had to up the ante. The goal this time was $50,000 to build an orphanage at an existing school in Uganda through the Bellevue-based “Doingood” Foundation, a non-profit founded by friends Jeff and Amy Rogers.

Amy Rogers first travelled to Uganda in 2004 and has been back over 15 times since. Rogers has taken around 100 others with her on those trips and formalized the foundation in 2009, officially registering as a non-profit organization.

“You go from city to third-world pretty quickly,” Rogers said of Uganda. “In 2004, there was really nothing there.”

Strathy-Merrill met Rogers through a mutual friend and the two soon found out they had a tie that went back farther than they could have realized.

While Strathy-Merrill was a student and swimmer at the University of Washington, one of her teammates was none other than Rogers’ brother John. John died of AIDS in 1996 and in 2005, a school in his honor was completed in Uganda. The same school that Strathy-Merrill and her husband ran across the state to raise money for.

“It all just kind of came full-circle,” Rogers said. “That made it a little more special.”

Donations from family and friends poured in as word spread about “Run Baby Run”, leaving only one more thing for Liz and Nick to do. Run 300 miles from Vancouver, Wash. to he Canadian border in five days.

The two switched shifts in five-mile intervals, alternating between running and riding a bike that towed a trailer with necessities such as food, water and extra clothing.

“It was my wife’s idea,” Nick said of the inspiration to run 100 miles farther than they did in 2008. “I’m always up for a challenge so I was totally ready to try and tackle it.”

Liz said the idea to cross the state came from a Hopelink luncheon where she heard recording artist John Legend say that for every six feet across the length of Washington, there is a homeless child.

“That really resonated with me,” she said. “We knew we wanted to do something for kids.”

So far, the couple has raised $40,000 in donations for the orphanage project and construction has already begun and donations continue to pour in. One of the attractions to working with Doingood was the ability to continue to monitor the project in the future and witness the lives it touches.

“We’ll be able to follow-up and see where the money goes,” Nick said. “We can get updates for the rest of our lives.”

While there were certainly a few bumps in the road-some minor hiccups in the route, tracking down a lost cell phone and ipod and a night spent above a saloon in Stanwood-the couple drew inspiration from those would donated their time and efforts and the countless children who would be positively impacted by the orphanage.

“Knowing all these people have donated money to support the need out there, we had to power through,” Nick said. “I don’t know that I would have been able to do it if I didn’t have the commitment from so many people,” Liz added.

To make a donation, email Liz Strathy at lizstrathy@comcast.net