Spent our night at Pines Camping Area.
Always nice to wake up to the singing of the birds.
Morning starts with a little bit of home brewed matcha.
For some runners Matcha gives extra energy!
Some enthusiastic participants we met on the road.
Agi and Colin.
When the torch gets heavy - there is always a friendly hand to help you.
On the Northern Strand Community Trail we met quite a few interested people.
Next stop - Torch-Bearer Awards to distinguished members of Boston’s African-American community hosted by George “Chip” Goodridge and "Greatest Minds" (a mentoring program for gifted youth) at La SALA community space.
Members of "Greatest Minds" sharing their vision for a brighter future.
Our enthusiastic host - Begabati.
Dr. And Mrs, Jhean Alves are remarkable community contributors - her daughter Alex received the Torch-Bearer award for them, since they were out of town at the moment.
Cabo Verdans are the largest African community in Boston, because they came here in the 19th century to work in the whaling trade. There are now about 20,000 Cabo Verdeans in Boston, based on Census Bureau estimates.
Torch-Bearer Award was awarded to Pastor Gloria and Ray Hammonds via their associate pastors Bob and Pastor Sabrina Gray (in the picture) for
Pastor Glorai and Ray are physicians who were inspired to study religion at Harvard, to become pastors and to start their own church, Bethel AME!
Pastor Gloria graduated from Harvard Divinity School and Pastor Ray got a masters degree in religion from Harvard Graduate School.
Both of them have taught at the Divinity School: Pastor Ray taught a course on how the church can become more engaged in the community, while Pastor Gloria recently taught a course on spirituality and healing.
Pastor Bob Gray serves as the chaplain for the Boston Celtics, the Boston Red Sox and in the past for the New England Patriots.
Pastor Bob: "It is a blessing to be a blessing to other people."
Chip is a big man with a big smile, a big heart, and a big vision for mentoring Black youth. He is responsible for more than 20, 000 young people getting into higher education and he has affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Chip is finishing his PhD at Georgia State U, studying themes like gentrification in housing and career success for young people; how Boston is an educational mecca while Atlanta is an educational mecca specifically for Black people, looking at how they support their black communities in very different ways.
Chip is a Fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government for his expertise in housing, young people, urban studies, gentrification, voting, voter discrimination, and community organizing at the grassroots level, looking at community-based organizations and how they work with or against government agencies.
Henry presenting all of the wonderful things that Chip has done for the community over the years.
John had a lot of nice things to say about Chip!
Next we went out for a symbolic run with the torch in the Justice Edward O. Gourdin Veterans Memorial Park.
Couple of laps around the Park created a lot of smiles.
Collecting some Massachussets soil for the upcoming Peace Tree planting.
Thank You for hosting us!
The Sun is always there somewhere - although we may not see it for a while.
So never lose hope - the Sun will surely rise again and bring us the promise of a brighter future.
