Running has
taught me so many invaluable lessons and taken me places I never would gone in
life without this amazing sport. Being a mentor and ambassador for In the Arena
is no exception, and in fact, one of the things I am most grateful for as I
learn more about the real world each and every day within my own community. Working
with RunningWorks and the homeless men, women, young adults and children we
serve has opened my eyes and my heart to the invisible and misunderstood people
our society disregards on a minute-to-minute basis not just here in America,
but everywhere.
As I have
mentioned before, my preconceived notions of the homeless were consistent with
those of 99% of the American population: 1) Homeless people live under bridges and
typically have brown paper bags, 2) Most of them panhandle, 3) They are lazy,
dangerous and are not very smart, 4) They do not want to work and that is why
they are homeless, jobless and destitute. Mind you, this was without any real
experience with a single homeless person and all because of the way society and
the media portrays them. Boy, do we have it wrong!
Of course, as
with anything, one can find a homeless man or woman under a bridge with alcohol
in a paper bag—and, you will see them panhandling on street corners all over
America. However, those examples are not the real cross-section of homelessness
here in the United States. The men, women and young adults who find their way
to the RunningWorks program are seeking a better way of life. They are
resourceful, intelligent, resilient and witty. Most have had some major life
event causing them to lose everything, which is called “situational
homelessness”—and from that point, it is very difficult to get all of the
pieces back in place for jobs, housing, immigration, healthcare, familial
issues, etc. Some have minor mental health issues as a result of childhood
trauma often due to abandonment and/or abuse by their parents or from growing
up within the government system. Sure, we do have some team members who are “chronically
homeless”, which means they have a disability such as a major mental illness or
substance abuse issues in addition to long-term homelessness as a result of not
being able to put all of the pieces together. The point is, rather than sitting
under a bridge with a paper bag or panhandling on a street corner, these brave
individuals have sought out something better and found their way to RunningWorks
several days a week—a place where they can be heard, loved and embraced as part of
a family and team.
This has been a
real eye-opener for me. Not only does our team function as a family and spend
an incredible amount of time together sharing a life, we make an effort to give
back each and every week within the community. Our homeless group has
volunteered more than 1000 hours—a huge part of our mission is to give away
whatever riches we have, material or spiritual, in order to keep them. It is a
lesson for everyone involved to get outside of ourselves and “show up” for
others—someone always has it worse. We volunteer at races on the weekends in
order to earn entries rather than asking for handouts. Since most of our team
did not grow up blessed with a traditional family, we make an effort to have
“family-style meals” following races and special events several times a month. At
first, this is even uncomfortable for some team members—learning manners,
eating in restaurants, ordering from a menu, and stepping outside their safe zone
altogether, which is great!
Following every
run at each of the five RunningWorks programs in North and South
Carolina, we execute a life skill together. This is not so much one of us
“teaching” or “preaching” AT them—it is so much more. It is the group coming
together as one and learning a new way of life by sharing what is happening on
the street (or in the shelter/group home) day-to-day. For the first time, these
men, women and children have an opportunity to communicate their deepest and
innermost feelings without the fear of cross talk or judgment. That is a big
time rule at RunningWorks as we are attempting to instill some of the core values
all of us get from running: self-respect, respect for others, confidence,
teamwork and discipline. Each day, I am grateful for the way I was raised and
for the fact that my parents taught me these important values from a young age.
Listening to the childhood stories of my new RW family has made me even more
committed to helping them find these things within themselves slowly but
surely. The more disciplined they are, the more they “show up”, the more they
volunteer and have life experiences including crossing finish line after finish
line at longer and longer races, the more the values will come. It is so
rewarding to witness.
There is a major
misconception that this program is just running club, and all we need are shoe
donations. It is so much more. I have been shocked at all of the things RunningWorks
does on day-to-day basis, and I know for sure some of our team would not be
alive today without the far-reaching resources, love and care provided from
their new family of choice. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Forgotten Community
where I will give some amazing individual examples of resiliency and the power
of running working in our team’s lives. Onward and Upward.
