Two passionate people create history

Share a story about someone who had a positive impact on your life.

This is true story of two passionate people who created a movement called Nashik Run.

Story goes back to the year 2005. Two corporate friends used to cycle every weekend to nearby areas almost for 30 miles away from city. They were at the top leadership position in a multinational company. At heart both of the gentlemen were kind and passionate about supporting underprivileged people.

During their bike ride they used to pass through the tribal areas. During this trail of small children from these tribal communities, used to come to them and ask for food. They used to give them chocolates and other snacks.

After few days, they thought that this mere chocolates or snacks would not really help the families to improve their lives. They decided to do something bigger for them. And the city marathon called Nashik Run was born. They founded a trust and used to collect the donations from like minded corporates. At the same time, in order to get the people participation, idea of selling T shirt was started. Every citizen felt proud to participate because they were helping the larger cause of community development.

The trust collected substantial amounts from this annual event. Then the money was spent on the projects to help families to improve their living standards. No direct payments were done to any individuals.

Starting with only 2000 people participating in the run now after twenty years the participation has gone to more than 12000 people. They have helped immense tribal groups in many different ways like primary health clinics, School buildings and community centres and water conservation. This has significantly improved the quality of life in the tribal communities.

I was project coordinator for this initiative. I met numerous NGOs and needy people during this time and got inspired to work for the community. It was always painful to see the people suffering, at the same time it was inspiring to see the work some great leaders are doing for them.

This thought always struck me that we are so much blessed that we have much better life compared to these people and still we keep cribbing about small issues we face.

This work has completely changed my perspective towards life and I became more positive and generous. This also made me kind and supportive to others.

I can never forget the inspiring work by these two founders. They impacted my thought processes completely.

Be kind to others and be happy 😊