Overcoming Adversity Through Volunteering
[Music]
what would you do
if your leg was amputated tough question
for dick trump
the answer was easy start running
he began running by himself always a
high achiever
he decided to run the new york city
marathon becoming the first known
amputee to achieve such defeat
he completed all 26.2 miles in 7 hours
and 24 minutes
as he was running it occurred to him
that if running meant this much to him
it might have the same effect on other
handicapped people
but this raised a difficult question how
could he find other handicapped athletes
to solve this he put an advertisement in
the newspaper
saying to meet tuesday night in central
park
he wasn’t even sure if anyone would even
show up
to his great surprise people started to
show up but what he didn’t anticipate
was that the people who showed up
weren’t just amputees
there were blind runners cancer
survivors and wheelchair athletes
seeing his club grow such a wide range
of handicapped athletes
dick started to recruit able-bodied
volunteers
over the course of a couple years this
will turn to achilles international
where disabled people around with
volunteers
last year while new york city i had the
privilege to be one of these achilles
volunteers
acting as a guide to a blind athlete
named akan
i guided him around central park with a
tether as we ran through miles
while on the surface it would appear to
others that i was helping a con
i can assure you that it was the other
way around i had the time my life that
night
and it showed me how disabled people
learn to cope with their disabilities
and do amazing things my second role
model that i’d like to talk about
was inspired by dick trump terry fox was
a standout canadian high school athlete
he reached an important crossroads the
night before he had his leg amputated
due to aggressive cancer called
osteosarcoma
while he should have met the lowest
point of his life he was excited and
inspired by an article about dick trum
it was at this moment that he decided to
run what he called the marathon of hope
to support cancer research following his
surgery
he rehabbed in preparation for this
monumental run with a 14 month training
period
the marathon of hope was no ordinary
marathon
in a tremendous athletic accomplishment
he ran 26 miles each day
for 143 days straight
he embarked on this run because he
learned that the cutting edge treatments
that he received
were brought about because of scientific
advances
he wanted to help future patients get
the same care that he did
by fundraising for cancer research since
terry started his run
over 750 million canadian dollars have
been raised for cancer research
the survivor rate for osteosarcoma has
now increased to 80 percent
terry fox became a hero of mine because
of how he responded to life-altering
misfortune
how you respond to challenges like
getting your leg amputated defines your
character
while i can’t imagine someone telling me
that they were going to amputate my leg
an even more insurmountable challenge
would be getting diagnosed with als
this is exactly what happened to st
john’s prep graduate pete frates
at the age of 27. most doctors agreed
that the one of the worst diagnoses one
can receive
is als als also known as lou gehrig’s
disease
is a neurodegenerative disease that
causes progressive loss of motor neurons
patients die as a result of paralysis
and the inability to speak
breathe and eat the knight pete brady’s
learned that he was diagnosed with als
he told his family that i now know why
i’m here
and he expressed his determination to
fight this disease
while he recognized that his efforts
would not help him he was determined to
raise awareness and funding for this
terrible disease
he told his parents that he wanted the
world’s familiar philanthropists
like bill gates to hear about this
illness to galvanize efforts to support
research that would lead to better
treatments
for future patients with this disease
pete fraze was the determined man two
years after his diagnosis
he launched the ice bucket challenge a
fundraising effort like nothing the
world had ever seen before
people filmed themselves dumping buckets
of ice cold water on their heads
donating money to the als foundation and
then challenging their friends to do the
same
leveraging the power of social media the
challenge quickly grew viral
and amassed over 2.4 million
participants including bill gates
that raised a grand total of 250 million
dollars
for als research in just one year
the fourth story i’m going to talk about
has to do with coven 19
which has been a challenge for all of us
the mount carry food bank
in acton massachusetts has a long
tradition of success
serving over 34 000 different meals to
date
each week a team of dedicated volunteers
prepare a sit-down meal
in a church cafeteria for about 150
people
when cobin 19 hit they realize that they
can no longer host 150 people in the
cafeteria
due to coven concerns their founder mike
tobia
had every excuse in the world including
the fact that he was battling metastatic
pancreatic cancer
to pause their operations however in the
same way that peter frates
terry fox and dick trauma at adversity
mike tobia decided to face these
challenges head-on
and continue his mission to serve the
hungry to do this
they adapted to the coven 19 crisis and
changed their model by starting to serve
outdoor drive-by meals
at the same location once a week
this has been such a big success that
the number of meals that they were able
to feed
has gone up to 200 per week
mount carrie food bank is a very good
example of people having compassion for
others and being very dedicated and
resilient to the times
they’re able to raise funds and obtain
food and help out the less fortunate
the founder of the organization did this
all through a battle with cancer
what’s amazing to me is that they is
that the one theme that unites mike
tobia
pete frady’s terry fox and dick trom
is that they all had enormous challenges
ranging from cancer
to leg amputation to als
despite these challenges each of them
were able to make an extraordinary
contribution
to help other people while each of us
has to find an area that we are
passionate about
i hope that all of us can find
inspiration from these four
extraordinary individuals
to find a way of serving others to quote
pete frates
being part of something bigger than
yourself is one of the best things that
you can do
thank you