Keith Tindall sat down with us to share his heart for rescue and his journey of running across the state of Pennsylvania to rescue 13 kids from trafficking and exploitation!

Meet Keith

55-year-old Keith Tindall is a Harleysville, Pennsylvania, native along with his wife, Donna. They have four grown children, three of whom run marathons like their father. Keith is the vice president of Engineering at Sabre Industries, is active in his church and (quite obviously) loves to run!

He shared that he’s always loved running and ran many 10Ks. It wasn’t until he was 39 that he started training for his first marathon. After his first, he ran a marathon every year until he decided to pick up the pace even more and run a marathon in all 50 states. He ran 13 marathons in 2022!

Keith shared that fighting child trafficking had been on his heart for a while—and God used his passion for running and his heart for kids in ways he could have never imagined.

Why Destiny Rescue?

We asked Keith why he chose Destiny Rescue.

“It was God,” Keith stated.

Keith received a bonus, and he wanted to give to help rescue kids. As he began researching anti-child trafficking organizations, he recalled a memory when he met a Destiny Rescue team member about 13 years ago and remembered the good impression he got of the organization.

He looked up the website, donated and received a call from one of our team members, Chris, to thank Keith for his donation. On the call, Keith expressed his desire to continue to support Destiny Rescue.

“I decided right then that this is something I want to keep supporting, and it’s something worth pouring my time and money into,” Keith shared.

Chris suggested he use his passion and drive for running to help rescue.

Keith shared that in that moment, his wheels instantly started turning for what he could do.

He recognized how much time and money had been poured into his running over the years, and he wanted to run not just for himself, but to help others.

Running across Pennsylvania

Keith set a goal of rescuing 100 kids. And to launch his campaign, he decided to run across the entire state of Pennsylvania. 

He set up his Destiny Rescue fundraising campaign page and jumped right in.

A man from his church knew a sports writer, and Keith soon found himself being interviewed by news and TV reporters—which he used to kick off his fundraising. 

When Keith’s company learned what Keith was doing, they immediately donated to his campaign and continued to promote the cause.

Others in Keith’s sphere of influence gave to his fundraiser and spread the word.

“I learned you often don’t have because you don’t ask. I just had to give it a shot, and people really came through.”

So Keith prepared, mapped out his journey and began his run across the state. 

Each morning and evening, he recorded a short video and posted it on social media—sharing about Destiny Rescue, his heart for helping kids and why others should join.

“I tried to encourage people to share my posts and share my fundraiser. It was neat when I started seeing donations from people I didn’t know.”

The result

Keith ran six days a week for 30 days—completing 512 miles in five weeks. He started on July 24 and finished on August 26.

He raised over $20,000—enough to rescue 13 kids from trafficking and exploitation.

And Keith is as energized as ever to continue running for rescue in 2024 as he presses on to his goal of rescuing 100 kids.

Keith’s “why”

We asked Keith what his “why” was for doing this.

​​”I can’t think of anyone who is in a more desperate situation than a kid in sex trafficking. The people I rub shoulders with have the resources to do something about it. I’m in a position where I’m able to connect those two sides. As I look at the Gospels and who Jesus hung out with and who He went after, it was people who were most desperate and needed to be rescued. That’s what the gospel is about. Rescue is on God’s heart. It’s hard to argue that it’s not.”

We also asked Keith how this has affected him personally.

“I am not used to being in the public eye like this. I’m an engineer—I tend to be an introvert for the most part. It’s been a stretch for me. The running hasn’t been as much of a stretch as putting up the videos and interacting with people so much. It’s not always the most comfortable thing for me to do, but seeing God use it—it’s just been neat to see.”

Keith shared that people commented on his posts saying things such as, “Thanks for letting us know, we had no idea!” 

Keith expressed that this venture has pushed him into leadership in an area he wasn’t expecting to be a leader in—informing people and making them aware of something they were unaware of before. 

Keith went on to express all the connections he realized he’s made over the years—from living in different locations to jobs to running.

Keith’s advice

We asked Keith what his advice would be for others considering using their talents and passions to fundraise to help rescue kids.

AIM HIGH

Keith advised not to put a limit on your goal amount. He set a goal of $150,000. The run alone raised $20,000—and he went into it not expecting to raise his full 100-children-rescued goal from that alone, but hoped setting a higher goal would only encourage people to continue to give. Aim high!

YOU CAN DO MORE THAN YOU THINK YOU CAN

He shared that if you had asked him if he would do something like this three years ago, he would have said, “That’s nuts!”

Running across the state was a huge undertaking. Keith said he would create a goal for himself, complete it, and then set a slightly bigger goal—and little by little his fundraiser grew and developed over time. 

He also mentioned the importance of prayer. Many people were praying for him as he ran and did something he had never done before.

GOD CAN USE IT

“If you love to do something and God has put that on your heart, He can use it—whatever it is. It may not be as big as this, or maybe it’s bigger…. Use it for the good of somebody else if you can.”

LET GOD STRETCH YOU

“I’m an engineer. I’ve got no experience putting together a video or any kind of media communication. I kind of figured it out as I went. And God used it in a big way. So I’m thankful for that.”

Thank you, Keith.

Our hearts have been moved and inspired by your gentle and humble spirit as you’ve accomplished such an incredible feat.

We honor you and thank you for taking your God-given talent, passion and drive to run to help rescue kids from one of the darkest realities imaginable. 

13 kids and counting will be free because of you. And on behalf of these kids and our mighty King, we say thank you.

“However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.”

ACTS 20:24, NIV