Our last event of the Florida Peace Run was to take part in the GROW Central Florida ‘Fun to Run’ Community 5K Race.
GROW is a Non-profit organisation and stands for Grass Roots Outreach Within.
GROW Central Florida works to promote environments that support increased opportunities for physical activity and healthy living for Central Florida elementary school children.
We were welcomed to run with the Peace Torch.
Our wonderful local Lake Mary Peace Run Coordinators, Dave and Santiva, ran the 5km together.
Many of the runners enthusiastically held the torch and took a few steps for peace.
These two girls are 7 years old and ran the whole way together!
Two happy GROW runners...
Great T-Shirt!
This whole family ran the race- what an inspiration!
This sweet young girl was so proud to run with the torch!
Mananya, on the left, and Alakananda, on the right, made friends with a great local teacher.
Back at the finish line, our team had made themselves useful!
And found a few peace lovers along the way...
And a little bit of fun!
I know I am super cute and you love me!
There were many great volunteers!
The spirit was very inclusive and friendly!
Every finisher received a medal ;)
Many families ran the race.
A few dogs ran it too!
trophies all ready for the finishers!
The Idyllwilde Running Club received a special plaque.
Even our team member Arpan managed to get a trophy while he was supposedly "fun running"...guess he could not resist the competition!
After the Award Ceremony was over, we gave a short presentation about the Peace Run.
We also presented our Torch-Bearer Award to Colleen Gonzalez,
the President and Founder of GROW. Colleen is wonderfully motivated and enthusiastic and we were thrilled to be able to recognise her work in our humble way!
Santiva presented Our Certificate of Appreciation to Colleen and her fantastic team of volunteers. This race was the perfect example of the multi faceted ways we can all follow our hearts inspiration to bring people together and make the world a better and more peaceful place!
All our gratitude to the Coordinators and people of Florida for welcoming us and creating a most inspirational and beautiful week for all involved! We hope we can come back soon!!
A perfect ending to the Florida Chapter, and beginning of our 2018 North American Peace Run!
There is only
One perfect road
And
That road is ahead of
You,
Always ahead of
You.
-Sri Chinmoy
