Johns Hopkins University freshman Danielle Dorfman, 19, was selected by Coca-Cola to carry the Olympic torch for the Beijing 2008 relay in San Francisco today. Activists protesting China?s human rights record have disrupted the relay in other cities on the route, and the torch arrived Tuesday in North America under heavy security.
Dorfman, who is pursuing biomedical engineering, spoke with The Examiner before heading to San Francisco.
What does it mean to you to carry the torch?
I hope it goes to promoting active lifestyles. I have been trying to do it with my organization for five or six years now, and this is another way to show people what can be done through running and helping out the community.
In 2002, you founded Running Friends, a nonprofit that provides running equipment for the less fortunate. What prompted you to do that?
I have been a runner since I was 7 years old. I used to go to local races and compete, and I used to see a lot of kids and adults with improper running gear. They might be wearing long pants while running. I started to collect running equipment, even starting with the shoes from my own closet.
I donated them to an elementary school with a cross-country team. After that, I got more and more publicity, and more and more people wanting to help, and I turned it into this nonprofit.
Tell me a place the organization has donated equipment that was particularly meaningful to you.
What really meant something to me was when we donated to two high schools in northern Florida that were affected by hurricanes in 2004, where they lost everything. When I was younger, I went through a hurricane and lost all of my belongings, so it allowed me to fill that need for them.
