Our Mission
The Never Ignore, Never Forget relay is a group of students committed to promoting awareness of genocide, raising money to benefit anti-genocide programs, and encouraging youth activism.
Who We Are
Composed entirely of high school and college students, the team is broken down into two different groups: organizers and runners. Hailing from all across the country, the team is brought together by a desire to change the world and a love of running.
What We Do
Simply put, we run. In 2008, we ran the first Never Ignore, Never Forget relay from Wichita, KS to Washington, DC – 1,300 miles. Since then, we’ve focused our attention on making 2010 bigger, better, and longer: the entire country.
Our Goal
The reason we run is to bring about an end to genocide. Many people ask us what running has to do with ending genocide and, truthfully, our run has no direct impact on the genocide in Darfur or Burma. What our run does is bring awareness to an issue in a unique and unexpected way. The extreme athletic challenge of running through three mountain ranges, crossing all kinds of terrain, and pushing through rain or blazing temperatures is hard to ignore. Not only that, but we are also a group comprised entirely of students who could be playing video games all summer instead of running 13 miles a day.
To that extent, our chief goals in relation to genocide are showing people that we care enough to do something many regard as crazy or impossible and, simultaneously, to raise money for the Genocide Intervention Network’s civilian protection program – a program we feel is the best real means to end genocide. Finally, we wish to show teens and adults alike that nobody is too young to take a stand for his or her beliefs and that even the craziest of ideas is doable.
