Visiting Pencils of Promise in Laos!

Earlier this year, somewhere after Bali and before South Africa, I stopped over in Laos to see the Pencils of Promise Laos office. While I had a chance to visit Guatemala in 2013, I’ve never been to any of their other communities. Since, I was in the midst of a Southeast Asia jaunt, I thought I’d see what the team is up to.

We got a chance to meet the Laos team, see the first ever school that Pencils of Promise build, see a school build in action, and play some soccer with the kids (and if you were wondering, no, I didn’t let them win!

It was awesome to be able to visit a community almost 2 years after I started 777. After all the travel, all the running, the injuries, and the lawsuits, this is what 777 is about and it was a great reminder that through the 777 Project & Pencils of Promise, we weren’t’ just building schools – we’re building opportunities.

Check it out.

Visiting Pencils of Promise in Laos!

The 777 Project

The 777 Project is an endurance, adventure and philanthropic initiative by Joel Runyon & IMPOSSIBLE to run 7 ultra marathons on 7 continents in order to raise money & awareness to build 7 schools with Pencils of Promise and provide opportunities to those for whom a basic education can be impossible.

As of this post, I’ve finished all 7 ultra marathons on 7 continents and we’ve collectively raised $155,874 – enough to build 6 schools – and counting! We’re building the final school with Jesse Itzler and his WeDoHardStuff.com community (you can find more about that here).

You can see previous races recaps + videos below.

Previous Race Recaps