It all started about 25 years ago for John Ponte, when he attended his first Boston marathon to cheer on a co-worker. It planted a seed in his head, maybe one day it would be cool to run it himself. Fast forward all these years later, and John is about to hit a milestone – getting set to run his 10th Boston Marathon, and ninth as a member of Team JAF.
Despite not considering himself a runner, even all these years later, John has found these marathons as his way to give back. And while every year and every run is a little bit different, the one constant has been his connection to the Joe Andruzzi Foundation.
After his first run, he started to dive in and research various local charities. He knew he wanted to support something related to cancer and started learning more about JAF. It’s a mission he has really come to believe in.
“I like the local aspect. I like that they were focused on New England patients…and you kind of see where your money is being directly impacted.”
Like all of us, John has had people in his life affected by cancer. It’s allowed him to see the impact a diagnosis can have.
“I saw the financial impact that it has. I had family and friends who were married, who had kids, and they owned homes, and you forget that when you get diagnosed with cancer, you have to go through treatment, but your bills don’t stop. Your mortgage doesn’t stop. Some people have to go to work while they’re going to treatment. Others have to lose their jobs. So that really resonated with me.”
John’s developed a loyal donor base through the years that has continued to support his runs and the Foundation. He has tried to spread the mission of JAF and the relatability of its mission to his donors. He credits his approach to consistent outreach, and creating connections between his donors and JAF’s mission by using various communication methods including even writing handwritten letters, which he feels people appreciate as a lost art. But the thing that has really stood out to John is that, after all these years, some of the people who have been with him and donated along the way are now being forced to deal with the horrible disease themselves. It’s a sobering reminder of how prevalent these diagnoses can be.
“I’ve had a couple of people who actually benefited from JAF after donating themselves. It’s really eye opening. I didn’t realize, okay, a lot of these people that you’ve reached out to that were donors; some of them are now going through it themselves. So, it’s sad, but in a way, it is a good thing they are seeing the impact firsthand because a lot of them were already supporting JAF and now they’re going through it themselves.”
John thinks 10 is the right number to go out on, and this will be his final Boston Marathon. Although he jokes that he may reconsider doing one more when he’s 80 or 90 years old. It’s a journey that’s seen him run most of the big world marathons, along with the decade he has spent running Boston. He always remembered something CharityTeams Founder Susan Hurley told him as he was training for an early run that has helped carry him through.
“I was probably bummed out about how I felt in training, but I remember Susan saying something to the effect of, ‘John, news flash…you’re not going to win it. So just enjoy the journey. Everybody’s journey is different, and you’re going to get the same medal that everybody else gets.’ It kind of hit me. I’m not running to win, right? So, it’s about everything else…It’s more about everything leading up to it…the commitment, the discipline you learn, the charity and cancer patients you help, and then the race itself is a celebration of the hard work you’ve done leading up to it, both physically but also fundraising. You’re nervous, and you want to do well, but the race itself is almost just the cherry on top.”
He still may not consider himself a runner or even enjoy it most of the time, but as he gets ready to cap this decade-long journey, John has been an integral part of Team JAF, and says he’ll continue to be an advocate for the organization and support its mission through other means of giving back
