We Are One Hosts Earth Run Marathon Events Around the World

NEW YORK, Oct. 26, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, October 22nd, New York-based volunteers of We Are One hosted the 2023 Earth Run: Peace Heritage at the Flushing Meadows Corona Park. About 200 volunteers participated locally in the event held to spread a culture of peace and good health in New York and around the world.

Participants were happy to run for peace. Locals of all ages, from infants to senior citizens, came out to the park for the race that began early Sunday morning.

The campaign, also referred to as "We Are Run," is a new initiative for We Are One, an international youth organization made up of volunteers from New Heaven New Earth Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Members had the innovative idea of hosting races worldwide so that the combined distance covered by all the peace runners would equal the circumference of the entire globe (24,901 miles).

We Are One strives to make social contributions to society that only the youth can make. The organization made headlines when it earned the Guinness World Records in 2022 for the most blood donation sign-ups online within a 24-hour period. A total of 71,121 volunteers from the group completed online blood donation applications within one day on October 1st, 2022, and more volunteers agreed to donate blood throughout the months of October and November. 

Worldwide, 10,000 We Are One running groups planned to host Earth Run marathons in 30 different countries by the end of October 2023. Events were held in nine countries in Asia (Japan, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines, Kazakhstan, and Türkiye), seven countries in Europe (Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, United Kingdom, France, and Russia, Germany), and three countries in the Americas (United States, Brazil, and Colombia). Marathons were also hosted in nine African countries and two countries in Oceania.

"We expect it to be a healthy festival for young people who shout for freedom and peace through daily running," a We Are Run official said.

We Are One Director Lee Hong-yeol, a former marathon runner, encouraged the participants, saying, "There will be many first-time marathon participants, so I urge them to approach the marathon with a safe and correct attitude and hope that it will be a healthy and safe event."

We Are Run CEO Hong Junsu also said, "I am very happy that all of you who participated in the event have already started taking steps toward peace as 'peace runners.'"

For more information about We Are One volunteer activities, please send an email to [email protected].

SOURCE Shincheonji Church of Jesus