Kartik, owner of the Motel 6 in Raleigh shares the Peace Torch with Natabara who we just arrived from New York. We are very grateful to Kartik for offering the men's team two large rooms for our overnight stay in Raleigh.
Cidney is a local resident here near Raleigh who took time out of her morning to share the Peace Torch and offer her goodwill. As a novice runner who is now training for a marathon she was so excited to see us running down the road and was very curious and interested in the Peace Run.
We are very grateful to Jamil Kadoura for treated our whole team, as he does every year we pass through Chapel Hill, to his delicious Middle Eastern dishes.
We were delighted to have lunch with Sarbaga, our dear friend from Carborro who has coordinated Peace Run events in the area for many decades.
Our first school of the day was the Stough Elementary School in Raleigh.
The students and teachers lined the hallways with high fives and cheers to welcome us in a very energetic fashion.
As a Chinese emersion school the multicultural curriculum was reflected in the signs and posters lining all the hallways.
We finally made it to the auditorium where we joined the whole school in an exciting ceremony.
The children offered us songs and poetry on the theme of Peace.
We offered our skits, this one was going back in time to the 80's when the Peace Run was created by the Founder, Sri Chinmoy.
We had the children guess wha countries our runners were from and they then were able to locate our countries on our huge map of the world.
A moment of reflection and peace in the heart is always an important exercise with the children.
We are very grateful to Principal Christopher Cox who enthusiastically helped our local coordinator Prakhara, arrange this exciting event.
Some of the staff who were very helpful in this event as well.
The school was so thoughtful in make gift bag which they presented to all of our runners
We were welcomed to the Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA in Greensboro by some cheerful staff members and enthusiastic children.
Holding their 'Torches' high during our action song.
A few humorous skits help the children to judge between peaceful and not so peaceful behaviours.
Ebony, Director of the YMCA, was so kind in inviting us to share this time with the children and staff. She even let us use the showers after we had a wet morning of running.
The children and staff were able to pass the Torch around and offer their goodwill and prayers or wishes for peace.
The teachers and counselors were delighted to share the Peace Torch and offer their bright smiles and goodwill for us to carry to our next destination.
Randall from Spectrum News enjoys holding the Peace Torch after covering our whole ceremony at the YmCA for the evening news in Greensboro. We are very grateful to the media who come out to share our message and activities in their community.
We are very grateful to the Winston-Salem Hotel and Spa, which is now becoming the Best Western, for offering us two spacious rooms for the night. Theresa and Chantel share the Peace Torch as they welcomed us to these very nice accommodations.
At Moe's Southwest Grille in Winston-Salem we had a wonderful meal kindly discountd by them.
