Tears well up in their eyes, as Mark and Lauren Pickens discuss the decals on the side of their Top Fuel dragster driven by 
Clay Millican.
Mark and Lauren Pickens are on a mission, and this one is for God and
its no where close to the mission the fictional Blue Brothers were on
in the movies.
The couple who reside in Memphis, Tenn., have been involved in the
Hope-4-Sudan charity, supporting the children of war torn Sudan.
Mark remembers the first time Lauren traveled to Sudan and befriended
the malnourished children. The first visit and an honest mistake led
them to get more involved.
Tears well up in their eyes, as Mark and Lauren Pickens discuss the decals on the side of their Top Fuel dragster driven by Clay Millican.
Mark and Lauren Pickens are on a mission, and this one is for God and
its no where close to the mission the fictional Blue Brothers were on
in the movies.
The couple who reside in Memphis, Tenn., have been involved in the
Hope-4-Sudan charity, supporting the children of war torn Sudan.
Mark remembers the first time Lauren traveled to Sudan and befriended
the malnourished children. The first visit and an honest mistake led
them to get more involved.
“She went there and brought toys for the children,” Mark said. “I could
see the look of hurt in her eyes when they took the toys and looked at
her with hollow eyes. They needed food.”
Lauren said she’ll never make that mistake again.
So what is Hope-4-Sudan?
“Hope-4-Sudan is a project that is going in and building compounds and
the compounds include schools and medical clinics and deep water wells
for clean water and churches,” Lauren explained. “The project is
partnered with people to people ministries, which is a child
sponsorship, they do disaster relief, feeding programs, child
sponsorship, humanitarian type things and they are partnering with us
to get the children fed and clothed and educated.”
Lauren explained the Sudan inspiration came from a pastor friend from
their hometown in Tennessee who shared his experience with her. That
was all the inspiration she needed to make her first trip.
“Sudan had been constantly on my mind,” Lauren admitted. “I felt like
God was showing me this was something I was supposed to be a part of;
so, when he presented it to me I told him I wanted to be a part of it,
and it’s kind of gone from there.”
Once Lauren got involved, Mark needed no convincing to join her. The Pickens wanted to use their resources to help the cause.
Nothing makes an impression more than an 8,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster.
“The project needs the publicity, we need to get it out in front of
people so they can actually see it, and there is no better place to do
it than the US Nationals,” Mark explained. “If you’re in drag racing,
it’s the biggest and longest running event of the year, so this was
just the perfect opportunity.”
