Abigail Desjardins and Amos Desjardins take a break at an aid station set by Pacers in Fairfax before finishing the last leg of the run. Photo by Abigail Constantino/The Connection
Runner Amos Desjardins, of Alexandria, is running 500 miles in Virginia to raise awareness for hunger and food insecurity. Del. David Bulova (D-37) said that he feels fortunate to be able to join him for part of his run through the 37th district. “What he’s doing is very practical in partnering with the Virginia food banks and actually getting folks to act on the problem, maybe make it so fewer children and adults go to bed hungry,” said Bulova. Leslie Van Horn, executive director of the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, said that in addition to raising almost $5,000 for the organization, Amos’ solo run delivers the message that hunger affects over a million people in the state every year. Amos got the idea for the run while volunteering in the kitchen at Carpenter Shelter in Alexandria. He realized that many people used the shelter for food and packaged foods. He started thinking about ways to bring fresh food to people who struggle with food issues. “He wanted to do something kind of amazing,” said Abigail Desjardins, his wife. Amos initially scheduled the run in May but moved it to September for Hunger Action Month. The run started in Old Town on Saturday, Aug. 30. From there, he went to Fairfax, Winchester, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, Fredericksburg and back. He averaged about 50-60 miles each day, starting at 6 a.m. and finishing around 7:30 p.m., or when it gets too dark or dangerous to run.
On the first night of the run, at Route 7, Abigail said that visibility was very low, making it dangerous to run on the road. “We found a high school track and he ran there to make up the miles,” she said. When Amos and his crew got to the hotel, he ran around the hotel some more. Amos was joined by several people throughout his journey, who either biked or ran along side of him. His favorite scene during his trek was on Route 11, going south from Winchester. “Route 11 is gorgeous.” The heat and humidity hindered Amos from running 500 miles, but he completed 310 miles. He is proud that he has achieved what he set out to do - to raise awareness and start a conversation about the issue of hunger in Virginia.Abigail said that it takes a village to solve the problem of hunger. “It’s not up to one person to do something about the issue,” she said. She believes the miles she and other people ran or biked with Amos during his journey amount to 500 miles. “The people I’ve met along the course are just wonderful,” said Amos, who remains upbeat and optimistic after running the equivalent of 11 marathons in five days.