The Forgotten Community, Part 1

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.