COVID-19 Relief Run for Local Businesses and Organizations

Friday, June 19 Update: In an effort to partner with more businesses and organizations to raise awareness and collect more donations to help the community, the race has now been scheduled for Sunday, June 28.

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My name is Jordan J. Phelan. For the past seven months I have served as the managing editor at the Eagle Times. Through this role I have been granted the marvelous opportunity to connect with members of the local and regional communities and understand their journeys, their situations, their stories and share them in an effort to brighten people’s day, highlight good deeds, and vocalize concerns that hopefully result in significant change. This experience thus far has been the most challenging yet the most rewarding in my life, and in this time best defined by a collective, unified sense of uncertainty, I wish to bring hope.

Therefore, in partnership with the Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce’s Love Local Project and the Greater Sullivan County COVID-19 Community Relief Fund, I pledge to run from 1:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 20, at the Monadnock Park running track. In these four-and-a-half hours I will run as far as I can, hopefully meeting and exceeding 26.2 miles.

The Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce’s Love Local Project supports area restaurants, retail shops and stores, and other businesses that have been impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic regardless of membership with the Chamber of the Commerce. The Greater Sullivan County Public Health Network COVID-19 Community Relief Fund supports local nonprofit organizations that have been impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The total collected funds will be divided equally between The Greater Claremont Chamber of Commerce’s Love Local Project and the Greater Sullivan County COVID-19 Community Relief Fund.

This fundraising page offers the option to either pledge a dollar amount per mile run (for example, if you pledge $1 per mile run and I run a total of 20 miles, your total contribution will be $20) or a flat donation (independent of the total distance run).

Note: If the run scheduled for Saturday, May 30, needs to be rescheduled due to weather, I will make an announcement on this page about the new date. But rest assured, I will complete it. Additionally, I will be running for the entirety of the four-and-a-half hours, so I may exceed 26.2 miles.

Here is additional information about myself:

I believe in simple things. I believe that one should take every moment as an opportunity, every relationship a promise, and every bit of laughter as the presence of humanity. I believe that it is my purpose in life to improve other’s lives to an equal or greater quality than my own. I believe that love wins, that light overpowers darkness, and that things may seem impossible but if you take things one step at a time you can accomplish anything. And I am certainly still learning.

I also believe in the people of the Twin State Valley and I want nothing more than to adequately and effectively represent the people of this land. This pandemic has precipitated pre-existing divisions, but it has also offered a bridge of collaboration and sacrifice for our fellow neighbors that truly restores faith in humanity. It has revealed a reality often cloaked, that in the midst of our day-to-day rushes we still hold in our hearts respect and interconnectedness with those around us. In light of these events and the area’s dedication to look out for everyone, I want to play a bigger part in supporting businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Something else about me that one may not know is that I love to run. Since 2014, a year to the day following the Boston Marathon bombings, I ran my own makeshift marathon around my neighborhood in Rhode Island. Over the past five years I have completed 13 half marathons all around the state which allowed me to build relationships with others from across the globe. Running has also allowed me and fellow runners the opportunity to shed some light on important issues, from breast cancer research to special olympics funding, all while spending some time outside in the sun and walking/running with friends new and old.

It is my hope that the money fundraised by this run greatly helps businesses and organizations in the area amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Thank you.

Jordan J. Phelan