Running Seeds
During weekend of the New York City Marathon, and in a vibrant running mood, a group of counselors and Seeds gathered in Prospect Park Brooklyn to run a 5km fundraising run.
On Saturday morning, grumpy, tired but excited, Clarke was awake by seven thirty. Though it was an 80’s themed run, he forego his costume and left. He had to be in Brooklyn by 8:30 to meet Leslie, and as every New Yorker knows, weekend commute means additional travel time as subways slow down.
As he stepped out of his apartment the sun painted East Harlem’s buildings in warm orange and yellow. Walking down the empty blocks, for a moment Clarke felt like he owned the city.
Clarke Reeves is the Development and Programs manager at Seeds of Peace, in charge of the American Seeds and UK Program. He works with our alumni and young professionals. He is also passionate about running and fitness, from which the idea of a group Seeds run came.
The run was organized by Brooklyn based CHiPS, a soup kitchen and women’s shelter. The event was an initiative of the year-round program Bridges to Peace to raise awareness and support for the work and mission of Seeds of Peace: to inspire and prepare new generations of global leaders from communities affected by conflict.
“We do a lot of programming that can be intellectually focused, or explores aspects of personal-identity, foreign policy or skills-building,” said Clark. “Sometimes it’s nice to do something that is fun and casual; bringing the Seeds community together while also doing some good for us and local organizations.”
Clarke met with the Seeds of Peace running team outside Leslie Lewin’s house in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. Brooklyn’s unique brownstones which unlike Manhattan’s skyscrapers, are kept short, gave us a clear view of the sky.
Excited runners dressed up in 80’s outfits and with their bibs showed up ready to run, except there was no sign indicating the start. Confused participants walked back and forth around the supposed starting line until a crowd began gathering on the West side of the park. Eventually, an organizer approached to announce the run was about to start. The organized mess didn’t bother the enthusiastic runners who quickly lined up and began to run.
A cold breeze cooled down runners throughout the loop around the park, while the sun warmed up their red ears and noses. The collective effort, cheering and lack of kilometer marks made the run seem faster and easier.
“It is great to see Seeds coming together to make our own community better,” said runner and counselor, Eric Tanner. “Running as a group made this the easiest 5k I’ve done.”
