Running into Portland was a special experience for many of us today for various reasons. Mike Chitwood, the Portland Police Chief who is ending his 17 year career as the Chief of police, ran with our runners through town to the beautiful Atlantic Ocean coast. We were also joined by a good friend and fantastic runner, Karen, who ran with Daulot on his last run before having to return home to Seattle.

As the Portland police escorted the group through town to the coast, four different T.V. stations were waiting along with the local newspaper at Fort Allen Park. There were also some of the local councilpersons and representatives from the local congressmen and senators who came to offer proclamations to the World Harmony Run as well as extend their congratulations to Mike Chitwood. Our runners honored Mike with a few of our special gifts and a Certificate of Appreciation singed by all the runners with their various countries. Mike seemed to be quite moved having been honored both locally and internationally for his exemplary service to his community for so many years.

Running out of town, we were joined by our friend Kurt Winkler and his family and our friend Karen again. Daulot took advantage of the cold, refreshing Ocean nearby and jumped in to get ready for his trip home. We are so grateful to him for the many miles he ran with us since he joined us in Syracuse, New York.

Moving on, our runners just made it to Scarborough, running into Camp Ketcha where over a hundred children were eagerly waiting our arrival. Julie Rabinowitz, the Director, did a great job preparing the kids to receive us. After our presentation, the whole camp, including the Staff, joined us for our World Harmony Run song. Having the children and staff pass the Torch and offer their wishes and prayers for harmony and friendship, we felt the strong support and encouragement that has kept us going since the beginning was still growing and manifesting.

Further down the road, we met with the Mayor of Saco, Mark Johnson, who offered us the Key to the City and a Proclamation proclaiming World Harmony Run Day. Mark is a veteran participant of our runs as we have passed through Saco and we are very grateful to him for always coming out to encourage us. He has run with us trough town in the past but due to some health problems he was not able to this time. We wish him the best in his recovery and hope he will be able to run with us again.

We ended our long day at the Green Acre Baha’i School and Retreat Center in a picturesque country setting. We were welcomed there by Laura and Michael, two young volunteers, or servers, who led us to the home of Stephen, Diane and Oceana Brandon. Many of their friends were also there to greet us and join us for dinner which they also kindly provided for us. It was a wonderful evening as we shared ideas, inspirations and stories about service and harmony and the similarities of their efforts with ours.

At one point after we first arrived there, Stephen made an announcement that two of our runners would be late because they were outside trying to get a frisbee and a wallet out of a big tree. Everyone laughed as he explained that after the frisbee disc they were throwing around got stuck in a tree, one of our runners (unnamed to avoid embarrassment), threw his wallet up there to try to knock it down. The wallet then seemed to defy gravity as it also did not want to come down. Perhaps he should have had more money in it to give it more momentum.

After our wonderful experiences and meal at the Brandon household, we made it back to the Shel-Al Campground where we were offered lots of space to park our vehicles and pitch our tents. We are very grateful to the ‘Shel-Al’ family for their kind and enthusiastic support.

Arpan and Team Harmony

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