Going Uphill

When we created the IntSam 5K four years ago, I wrote a reflection about the advice Kevin Hofmann, a friend for almost 50 years, gave me when we were at the cross-country state championship together in high school: “Run your race and attack the hills.”  I hear his voice every time I run now, as my course ends with a 100-yard uphill climb.  I attack that hill regardless of how I feel.
 
Running hard up a hill hurts because it requires you to do the opposite of what your body wants you to do.  But wow, does it feel better when you finish!
 
Those of you who have been a part of the IntSam Global 5K in the past know this feeling.  You ran through the quarantine in 2020 and helped provide 340 tablets so our scholars could safely continue their studies from home.  You invited more friends in 2021 and brought food to 150 families for a year when the pandemic kept ravaging the informal economies around dumpsites.  The biggest hill came last year, when you helped bring water to the homes of 2,000 people living around the dumpsite in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. 

This year you can run the IntSam Global 5K to give 50 students in seven developing nations a holistic scholarship for a year.  Holistic means covering items like food, shoes and backpacks, and even mental health support as needed, as well as tuition and school fees, to get each of these scholars across their academic finish line this school year.
 
Holistic scholarships are the single-most important lever for helping families in garbage dump communities break out of poverty, but they aren’t cheap.  They cost $3,000 per year—making $150,000 the goal for this year’s race.
 
Grandparents, parents, and children in our communities pray daily for a scholarship with International Samaritan—and for the people who support them.  Will you consider being an answer to their prayers and leading a team in the IntSam Global 5K for them this fall?  I know it’s not easy, but I also know that you will feel great when it’s done.  Let’s go attack a hill together.

Mike Tenbusch, IntSam President

Mike joined IntSam in 2018 after two decades of leading social change in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. He’s a University of Michigan Law grad and author of The Jonathan Effect: Helping Kids and Schools Win the Battle Against Poverty. He and his wife, Maritza, have three children who keep them young.