A Shliach, A Paralympic, and the Friendship Circle

Team Friendship is doing the unprecedented: hosting a virtual endurance sporting event.

With CoronaVirus putting a stop to in-person events, they’ve found a way to bring people together, continue promoting friendship and raise funds for an important cause.

Whether participants choose to bike (25 or 50 miles), run (5k, 10k, or a full or half marathon), or do both, they’ll be doing so simultaneously from all over the world to raise support for The Friendship Circle. Come June 7th, hundreds of bikers and runners around the globe will be part of this international, completely virtual competition.

CoronaVirus has hit the special needs community extra hard, keeping one of our most vulnerable populations in isolation and preventing them from receiving much-needed services. Friendship Circle branches across the world have been stepping up their virtual and socially-distanced programming to fill these needs, and they need our support more than ever.

Here’s one way you can get involved and give back, all while staying motivated, productive, and making a difficult time a bit better.

This Tuesday, May 12, Team Friendship will be hosting a live Zoom event with cyclist Joe Volfman and runner Nochum Kurinsky where you can learn more about Team Friendship, the Virtual Experience, and the athlete’s personal experiences with the event and Team Friendship.

Joe Volfman is no ordinary cyclist: born with Cerebral Palsy, he cycles in an adapted bicycle that he powers with his arms. Currently, he’s training for the paralympics in handcycling and plans to bike 50 miles with Team Friendship come June 7th.

“We have to stay positive,” Joe says. “We have to stay together, we have to be a ‘Team Friendship’ and keep the circle of friendship continuously going.”

Up next is Rabbi Nochum Kurinsky, who at age 36 suffered from a serious heart attack. It was a wake-up call that forced him to reconsider his lifestyle and start taking his health seriously. Fast forward to today, and Rabbi Kurinsky is an accomplished endurance athlete.

“It’s not about winning any medals,” shares Kurinsky, who will be taking the stage–sorry, screen–to discuss healthy lifestyles and running techniques. “It’s about being healthy and setting goals to stay that way.”

Join Team Friendship and hundreds of athletes (from beginners to experts!) for an informative and inspiring session this Tuesday evening:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82275891235

Take advantage of this a unique opportunity to accomplish something meaningful during a challenging time. As Joe Volfman puts it, “Let’s band together and show the world what we’re capable of doing.”

And that’s exactly what Team Friendship plans to do.

Will you be a part of it?

To learn more about the Virtual Experience, visit Teamfriendship.org/virtualexperience