By Mike Tenbusch | July 26, 2021
Are you looking for ways to get in shape, to spend more time with family and friends, to make a difference in the world, AND to have some fun?
The Great IntSam 5K was made for you.
This race was born out of desperation last year. In just two months, more than six hundred people raced and a thousand people donated just over $100,000 to equip 400 students from the garbage dump communities of developing nations with the tablets they needed to succeed in school.
Those students are now studying to achieve dreams the race made possible, but their families remain stuck in nightmarish conditions. Without additional support, the parents of our scholars will be forced to return to the dumps to look for food for their families. You can change that reality for them.
This year, we are asking runners to give or raise $100—the cost of a monthly food basket for a family. We’ve passed out 12,000 of these since the pandemic began, and the need remains dire.
This is a typical food basket for a family in Nicaragua.
The fun part comes when you lead or join a team (made up of five to ten people). Just like last year, we will award a trophy that travels each year in the following categories (with last year’s winners in parenthesis):
- Fastest Family in the World (The Smoke and Vincent Family in Ann Arbor, Michigan)
- Fastest Church in the World (St. Mary Student Parish, Ann Arbor)
- Fastest High School in the World (Regis Jesuit, Girls Division, Denver)
- Fastest Law Firm in the World (Plunkett Cooney, Detroit)
- Fastest Company in the World (Weingartz in Utica, Michigan)
As much as I love a good race, this one is really about getting food to families in need. So the more money your team raises, the better your score. With a little passion and pluck, you can take home a trophy and have bragging rights for a year. Our scholars in each nation also compete for the Fastest Nation in the World, and our team in Ethiopia is still bragging about their Olympic-like results from last year.
Because of the devastating impact of the pandemic in developing nations, we are asking teams to commit to giving or raising $1,200 to feed a family for a year. Imagine the difference you can make while spending more time with your family and friends getting in better shape together!
It truly is the Greatest Race on Earth.
You can run your race any time and any place in the world between October 15 and November 1.
Click Here to donate, to sign up for the race, to lead a team or to learn more. Or call Tucker, our race guru, at any time at (734) 222-0701 or email him at tucker@intsam.org with questions or ideas.
I look forward to seeing your name right underneath mine in the results!
Fr. Jim Gartland, S.J., (left) Pastor of St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor, is looking to hold on to the Fastest Church in the World Cup they won last year (pictured with Tucker Rossmaessler in November 2020).
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