Earl Jones with Arpan in Hazelwood.

The welcoming attitude of the people of Pittsburgh did not stop after the wonderful hospitality shown to us yesterday. This morning we left the Ramada Inn running to the City County Building. Fox TV News, as well as NBC and CBS were there to cover the story.

Salil speaks to the media in Pittsburgh.

We were welcomed by Dave Farley and his Charlene of the Weed and Seed program at City Hall. This program which was established over ten years ago in various cities offers many programs for the improvement of neighborhoods and quality of life in those cities. Gene Ricardi, the president of the City Council, was represented by one of the Councilmembers who offered us a proclamation from the City of Pittsburgh. We also were offered shirts made especially for us which had the World Harmony Run Logo, ‘Operation Weed and Seed’ and ‘Peace On Earth’ insignias as well. Our good friend Earl Jones who unfortunately could not be present there due to some health problems, helped to organize all the events of the day in Pittsburgh for us.

On the steps of City Hall with media and City Officials.

It was a four mile run to Hazelwood, a neighborhood of Pittsburgh. We knew that there would be some wonderful people there to greet us but we very happy to find that Earl Jones was there to welcome us as well. Even though he has been basically bed ridden for some time now, he was able to get into a car to get a ride to be with us for about an hour or so. We were moved to tears, as well as Earl, when we shared some of the feelings and ideas about social changes and volunteer action to help make a more harmonious world for more people. We were offered wonderful food from Sophia Stewart and her son Steve at Sal’s Deli and Dairymart. We are very grateful to the workers there as well who treated us so kindly. Robert, Louise, Jim and Mary Jane all were very kind to us.

We were serenaded by bagpipes as we ran to St. Stephens Parish in Hazelwood PA.

We were then greeted by Cynthia Yates, the manager of the National City Bank and Eunice Golphin, one of the tellers there. We carried the torch a few blocks with these wonderful people and with some of the children present as well. To our surprise once more, we were welcomed by a whole crew of firemen and a bagpiper to usher us up the steps of the St. Stevens Catholic Church. There we received a blessing and prayer from Father Neil NcCaully who so patiently had been waiting for us along with some of his Parish. Mary Lococo and her friend Teresa were so moved by our arrival that they expressed interest in getting more involved and even running with us next year.

Maria addresses the audience in Hazelwood. Earl Jones is behind her holding the torch.

It was really difficult to say good bye to such welcoming and friendly people. Our singer friend Cathasaighe and her sister Jessica and their mom Gloria even showed up to carry the torch with us in Hazelwood. We are grateful and at the same time quite impressed and moved by the amount of love and caring and harmony shown to us in one morning in one part of such a big city as Pittsburgh.

But as always, we had to move on towards our final goal which is approaching within two weeks. Today we had to run further north and east a bit, through Butler and into Clarion and onto Leeper.

In Butler we met up with about 100 children and adult staff at the YMCA camp in Alameda Park. Our runners were bit late so the rest of the teams who could make it there in cars began the ceremony. As we informed the kids and staff about our event and answered questions mostly from the kids, our Torch runners came in to a loud and thunderous applause. Coming late makes for a bit more drama even though we do not plan to be late usually. Thanks to the director of the camp, Carrie Dunkowski, we were able to share very precious moments with the children, inspiring each other to keep thinking about and working towards a more harmonious world.

We were later welcomed by Mike Ebert to the YMCA in Clarion as well. Unfortunately the children had to go home before we arrived, but Mike, who just started his role there last week, was very enthusiastic, offering us lots of bottled water and expressing interest in organizing a big event for next year.

We settled down for the night in Clarion at the Comfort Inn which offered us four complimentary rooms. It is a very clean and cheery place with a big glass atrium for dining in the lobby. This kind of offering is appreciated beyond words as it helps to sustain us and offers the rest we need to run 100 more miles as team day after day.

Gratefully,

Arpan

---

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

< USA 31 July

USA 2 August >