As the stones were carried through the final
stretch of the bike path towards Riverside Park,
they traveled between 1/4 mile of American
flags before crossing the finish line where four
flags donated by Senator Collins and Senator
King marked the end point. These flags were
flown over the U.S. Capitol in honor of fallen
soldiers from Maine, and it seemed only fitting
that these flags were also flown here to honor
these Northern Maine heroes.
The Summit Project’s mission comes
in three parts – Learn, Launch,
Letter. At the summit of each hike, a hiker
participates in a Circle Ceremony where
they are able to share what they learned
about the fallen service member they are
honoring. Run for Heroes stayed true to this
model, and each person that carried a soldier’s
story was able to share that story with all of
those in attendance. While everyone knew
the reason that we were all in Presque Isle on
that day, this is the moment that it all truly
struck a chord. Even The Summit Project
volunteers were taught new things about each
of the soldiers that day as we learned that these
athletes had not only read about the heroes on
our website, but some had taken the time to
reach out to the families, sit with them, listen
to their stories, and then share not only the
great loss but the amazing lives these soldiers
led during their brief time here. During
this ceremony Dylan Harris, brother of
SPC Dustin Harris, asked, “Are we going
to do a stone exchange?” While not every
soldier’s family was able to attend, we
had several Gold Star Family members
at the event that day. Dylan provided
the perfect piece to close out the race.
Each of the family members was able to
participate in an exchange of the stones
where the athletes were able to hand
the stones to the family, give them a
hug, and more importantly give them
the assurance that Maine Heroes Are
Not Forgotten.
For more information on The
Summit Project, please visit
www.thesummitproject.org.
SUMMER 2015
9