Journey For The Living is a national fitness challenge that raises money and builds awareness for Holocaust education.
Walk, run, or ride at least 15 miles in one month to represent the journey that Mark Schonwetter, a Holocaust survivor, walked in one night, along with his sister and mother, to escape the Nazis.
The money raised during this annual event goes directly to support Holocaust education grants for teachers nationwide, funding Holocaust-related learning materials, school resources, field trips, survivor speakers, and other curricula. Through Holocaust education, we teach students about the dangers of hate and inspire them to create a better, brighter future.
Individuals
Sign up and commit to completing a fitness goal in the month of May while raising money for Holocaust education.
TEAMS
Invite family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to join in your journey. Teams can be in-person, virtual, or both!
SCHOOLS
Teachers or schools can create teams for students as a meaningful way to teach lessons of the Holocaust interdepartmentally.
Registration is required for all participants. Each registrant will receive a toolkit of mile-by-mile learning resources.
Cost for individuals: $36*
* A donation that directly supports Holocaust education grants.
Cost for schools: FREE! Contact us for the code.
Make Holocaust education programming and resources available to all schools through your critical support.
Sponsorships start at $500.
2025 HONOREE SPONSORs
While our Journey For The Living annual event takes place in May, there are opportunities to participate in Journey For The Living all year long through our JFTL Mitzvah Project and JFTL Service Projects:
JFTL Mitzvah Project
Bar/Bat Mitzvah students, clubs, and organizations can complete a mitzvah (good deed) by participating in Journey For The Living any month of the year and raising funds for our Foundation’s Holocaust education grants.
JFTL Service Project
Corporations, clubs, groups, or individuals looking for ways to give back are invited to participate in an educational team building activity any month of the year.
When people see our Journey for the Living logo, they ask… why the shoes?
It’s a hardship tale for the Schonwetter family. Mark Schonwetter’s father, Israel, was the head of the Jewish community in their hometown of Brzostek, Poland. When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Mark’s father was often interrogated by the Gestapo about the happenings in the Jewish community. One day he didn’t return home and Sala, Mark’s mother, was told they were in danger so family friends hid them for one night before they fled the town to escape the Nazis. Mark, his mother, and younger sister walked 15 miles in one night to a ghetto where they thought they would be safer.
Years later, while hiding in the forest, a close family friend and former employee would bring the family food. One day when unable to make it, his son-in-law came in his place to the forest and Mark’s mother instantly recognized the shoes he was wearing. While he was quite apprehensive to tell, he shared: “After your family ran away, the Nazis took all the young Polish men deep into the forest to dig a big hole. When they brought us back a few days later it was to bury 250 Jewish men, women, and children in that hole.”
The Nazis instructed the Polish men to take one item as a reward for the work they did. The son-in-law immediately recognized Israel’s shoes and chose to take them because “Israel was a good man, and he wanted to honor him by walking in his shoes.” While Sala was devastated to know her husband was murdered by the Nazis, she was able to find closure and share one last memory of her husband’s character with the man.
When starting our foundation, we knew we wanted to honor Israel’s life as he faced hatred head-on for his community. The drawing and positioning of the shoes in our Journey for the Living logo are similar as Israel Schonwetter wore in a treasured family photo. The logo not only honors Israel’s life, but also reminds people to “take a walk in someone else’s shoes’’ before judging them, which is what Journey for the Living is all about.
Mark Schonwetter’s father, Israel
We are a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. EIN: 84-2332632.
