Caring for the community

ROSEMARIE NELSON Caring for community

Alyssa Dearborn

Running is more than an important hobby for Rosemarie Nelson. For the Mountain Goat Race director, running is a part of her daily life. But running was not always the habit that it is now for Nelson.

“I went to college like many high school kids do and learned the ways of eating and drinking. And I realized I was gaining a few pounds. Mostly, I didn’t want to buy new clothes. So I would go out secretly during the night after dark and run loops in the quad.” She said when asked how she started running, “I probably did that for a few months, dropped a few pounds, stopped running, and hit that cycle of every three or four months. I’d start and then I’d stop.”

It wasn’t until she began working at a bank – where she met her future husband – that she began to enjoy running.

“I met my husband, who was much more serious. He was like, just come and run ten laps. And it was a fun thing to do. And I really enjoyed it. I look at running now almost like brushing your teeth. I would never get up and not brush my teeth,” she said. “I think that it does two things. One, it lets me behave a little bit less healthy. I feel like running allows me to keep that in balance. And the other aspect really is the mental process that you go through while running. I think that it’s both the physical as well as the mental health aspect that keeps me going.”

That habit of consistently running has allowed her to live a balanced lifestyle, participate in a community of fellow runners, and find ways to give back to the community. She has served as the president of the Mountain Goat Foundation, has been involved with Hospice, served on the American Heart Association’s board, and she is currently a board member of Syracuse University’s track club.

“I think that it’s because you have to have a passion,” she said when asked about the connection between running and her community involvement. “If you’re going to volunteer and do something, you want to do something you’re having fun with. Make a connection. It’s a real social aspect of running with people who are of like mind, either supporting that same organization or just enjoying being out for a run.”

Using a passion to take care of one’s neighborhood is something Nelson has seen firsthand through her involvement with the Mountain Goat.

“So it’s a 10-mile run. It’s hilly, it’s challenging. People have a good time because if the weather’s good and the beer is good and the band is good, it’s a festival. So they do this in order to have a festival,” Nelson explained.

“We realized that while we were running 10 miles through the city, we said there’s parts of the city that aren’t so clean. So let’s get the Mountain Goat runners to help with Earth Day. Because we’re all training in the month of April and the Mountain Goat’s the first Sunday in May, we can tie training runs into an Earth Day clean up. So suddenly we have people doing a training run and then they all get together with bags, gloves and we clean up sections of the Mountain Goat course.”

“You’re giving back to the community that you’re creating traffic hazards for during the race,” she continued. “And they don’t even realize that they were picking up garbage in crappy areas, but they felt good about it because the community looked better. So the runners all appreciate it, the people who did the work are all proud of it, and you give back to the community.”

Nelson knows what it means to be a caretaker for her community. Service is a value that was instilled in her early on in her career. It is also a virtue that she believes should be taught to everyone.

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“I think people volunteer because they get asked to. I think the very first time I ever thought about volunteering was because my very first job at the bank. And they were just all about community service. United Way was a big thing. They did not just contribute to United Way, but they got employees involved. And we went to United Way agencies, helped with some of the services they provided, and you realized that what you did actually had an impact.

She and her husband are both alums of Syracuse University and feel it is important to give back to the athletic program, particularly the Olympic sports that don’t get as much attention as basketball and football.

“I think that there’s so much joy that comes out of that. I think that if people can find that niche, where they have fun or have a passion, then they don’t even realize that they’re volunteering,” she said. “That is really key because if we aren’t all involved and engaged, then we aren’t a community.”

Being a community caregiver is a social responsibility that helps communities become more connected. Nelson encourages others to start with their neighborhoods, reminding them that if they see something, then they should do something.

“Litter. Pick it up. It’s ugly and it’s in your neighborhood. Or if you see that there’s a delay in Hospice, how can you support them? What do they need? You see something that’s underserved, what can you do about that? That’s a way to take care of your community.” SWM