26 Miles To Africa

Jennifer Gersch, who ran the marathon for Jewish Heart for Africa, pictured with her Israeli cousins.

Jennifer Gersch, who ran the marathon for Jewish Heart for Africa, pictured with her Israeli cousins.

by Steve Lipman

Jennifer Gersch, a volunteer for a few years at the starting line of the New York City Marathon in Staten Island, decided last year that she would compete this year. “I felt I had missed out on something” by just watching the event, she says.

A volunteer for several Jewish organizations, Gersch decided that she would raise money, through participating in the race, for one of the groups.

Various logistic problems prevented her from starting her fundraising — on behalf of Jewish Heart for Africa, an independent organization launched three years ago that supports solar power programs in three African countries — until the week before Sunday’s 40th marathon.

She sent e-mails to friends in the days before the race and competed — walking mostly, running for brief spurts in downhill section — in the 26-mile, 385-yard, five-borough course, accompanied by her two brothers, Jonathan and Alan.

They finished together in eight hours, 11 minutes, and Gersch says she is pleased both with her fund-raising, which is approaching her goal of $1,000, and with her time.

A dancer, “I never considered myself an athlete,” says Gersch, “30ish,” who is project coordinator for the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs.

A resident of Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town neighborhood and a volunteer for LimmudNY and the Salute to Israel parade, she heard about Jewish Heart for Africa last year and immediately felt an affinity for its goals. The organization, founded by Israeli-born/New York-based Sivan Achor-Borowich, buys Israeli solar energy equipment to produce electricity for rural areas of Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

“Their mission” — supporting Israel, boosting Israel’s image, “helping save lives in Africa” — “is very unique,” Gersch says.

In November, she plans to compete for the second time in The Race to Deliver, which raises money for the God’s Love We Deliver organization.

And, still nursing a sore knee from the marathon, she’s deciding if she will enter the 2010 New York City Marathon.

“I will see,” Gersch says. “I’m still recovering.”

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