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Juniata County native to run 7-day marathon across Haiti

Snyder: ‘Extremely challenging’ experience to help end poverty

Photo submitted by Nick Snyder Nick Snyder spends time with Haitian children while working with KORE.

CHRISTIANVILLE, Haiti — A former Juniata County man is running to end poverty for Haitians.

Nicholas Snyder, a 1998 graduate of Juniata High School, is taking part in Run Across Haiti, a seven-day marathon that will take him from one end of the island nation to the other in February, 2017.

Snyder now lives in Waynesboro, where the church he attends works with KORE, an organization that helps people in poverty break free of their situation and gain opportunity to obtain sources of income.

KORE introduced him to the Haitian community and helped him find a passion for helping the people there.

“I have gone to Christianville (in Gressier, Haiti) with KORE for each of the last three summers. I love what KORE is doing with providing a way for people to find a way out of poverty instead of simply perpetuating the poverty,” he said.

KORE helps Haitians develop poultry farms, provides job training and promotes nutritious meals for children in orphanages.

“During the past three years I have worked on building chicken coops that would be used by Haitian farmers, working with some of the local orphanages as part of the 6.25 program and also working with the Christianville schools for community outreach. I am currently in the planning stages to lead another team down in the summer of 2017,” Snyder said

Prior to that trip, Snyder will make his run with the organization, Team Tassey, which is very similar to KORE, during Feb. 18-25.

The eight-day experience (seven days of running) takes place from the northern shore across the country to the southern shore. Snyder described the run as a difficult one.

“Due to the conditions it is an extremely challenging run and will force me to dig deeper than I have had to before,” he said.

Snyder was a hurdler for the track team during his days at Juniata High School.

“I have run ultramarathons before, between 30 and 100 miles. Last year I competed in 7 of those races, with the longest being the Grindstone 100-mile race,” Snyder said.

For more information about the marathon, go online to www.teamtassey.org.

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