Transcending continents

Transcending continents

Back in 2011, I spent a year in Chile. Yes, the long, skinny country on the western side of South America. During my year, I gained 60 pounds (then lost it all), learned to hitchhike (it felt like a free version of Uber) and drank Piscola (Chile’s version of rum and coke).

I lived with 2 kind families, helped local kids understand English and did cool things with new friends. Many invited a goofy looking American who spoke broken Spanish into their lives without hesitation. To this day, I’m incredibly grateful for their warm hospitality.

The experience was made possible by Rotary’s exchange program. It was my introduction to Rotary and their action-based approach to service. Today, I am fortunate to give back to Rotary through my work with Run The Day, which supports many races that are hosted by Rotary Clubs.

My year abroad made it clear that while countries have cultural differences, certain things remain the same. Humans have basic cravings. Some things transcend continents. I experienced 2 of these to be 1) connecting with others and 2) uplifting our community.

Rotary does a great job with both of these. Rotary Clubs across the world connect people and transform communities. Rotary is a great example, but far from the only organization bringing people together and supporting local communities. Everyday, many schools, churches, townships, companies and non-profits are connecting people and uplifting communities.

Run The Day counts many of these organizations as customers. We strive to help our customers connect others and uplift communities by making it easy to organize a memorable race. While organizing a race is not the only way to connect people and uplift communities, it is a great way to accomplish both of these with a single event.

Determining what we should focus on can be a challenge. After all, we only have a limited number of waking hours until we die. If what we are considering transcends continents, it is probably a good place to focus. Things that transcend continents tend to be important.

— Ian

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ICYMI: recent BYC newsletters

• Bringing people together

• Uplifting our communities

• What AI means for races

• Growing together

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