Congratulations to Our 2024 NYRR Volunteer Hall of Fame Inductees!

During Global Volunteer Month this April, we celebrate and thank all those who volunteer their time and talents in support of our community.

We’re especially grateful to our 2024 Volunteer Hall of Fame inductees, who were honored at a ceremony held at the NYRR RUNCENTER featuring the New Balance Run Hub on April 3. These individuals embody a spirit of service and have demonstrated leadership, commitment, and passion for NYRR’s mission to help and inspire people through running.

In the video below, our inductees share memorable moments from their years of volunteering.



Congratulations and thank you – we couldn’t do it without you!

Chandra Darsan
Years Volunteering: 8
NYRR Open Run Astoria Park Volunteer Captain

Chandra Darsan started volunteering at Open Run in Astoria Park in 2016 after being a participant and answering the call for volunteer captains. She said she wanted to give back to the community because she feels empowered to be a part of people’s lives.

“I keep coming back because of the people. I love to see their smiles. I love that they've inspired me. We've become family. We have a dream team, and we're always there to help each other.”

She said working with other volunteers has helped with her mental health and self-esteem and relieves stress. When the same people meet week after week, they can talk about what’s going on at home or work, and that helps create community.

“They have that smile on their face and they keep coming back. They have inspired me a great deal.”

Whether it’s raining or even snowing, Chandra doesn’t hesitate to get up in the morning and volunteer at an Open Run.

“It’s like, let’s go out there, yeah, let's [do] this.”

Stacy Jaff
Years Volunteering: 27
Medical Volunteer Captain

When Stacy Jaff was a medical resident specializing in physiotherapy and rehabilitation she volunteered at the New York City Marathon. That first year she was tasked with giving massages to the runners at the family reunion area and said she learned so much.

“I had no experience…but it was still hugely powerful because it [helped with] muscle spasm and muscle fatigue,” she said.

She kept coming back to volunteer at the marathon and other races to treat injuries and other medical problems.

“I was getting this huge amount of fabulous experience in a way I was not going to get in the hospital [or] in a medical office. So, for that I am so profoundly grateful.”

One of her fondest memories was in the early 2000s when the volunteer captains were told that a new “kid from California” was going to be running the race and that they should look out for him because he was going to be big one day. That runner was Olympian and 2009 New York City champion Meb Keflezighi.

“Volunteering has been such a big part of my life. It started off as an education but has become so much more.”

Denise and Jeff Laperuta
Years Volunteering: 38 each
Mile 3A Volunteer Leaders

In 1984, Denise and Jeff Laperuta were a young married couple living in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. On New York City Marathon Sunday, they strolled out to cheer for the runners near the mile 3 water station. When the volunteers asked them to help hand out water, they obliged—never mind that Denise was nine months pregnant with their first child.

“The captain said, come and volunteer—we need the help,” said Jeff. “And every year since we’ve been doing the same thing.” They became the mile 3A volunteer leaders in 2009.

Their daughter, Lauren, now 39, volunteers with them, along with many other family members and friends.

Volunteerism runs in the family—Jeff’s father and uncles served in World War II, and Jeff is a Vietnam war veteran. One uncle volunteered at mile 3A every year until he passed away in 2020 at age 93.

“Mile 3A is very busy because it’s early [in the race],” said Jeff. “Everybody’s all excited to get going on the course. The waves are coming and coming.”

“Everybody just gets the water and starts putting it in the cups and you’re trying to do all the things at once,” said Denise. They manage about 200 volunteers each year.

What keeps Denise and Jeff coming back? “The work has to be done,” said Jeff. “It’s become part of our life.”

Both feel honored to be inducted into the NYR Volunteer Hall of Fame. “Just as the volunteers and runners have been there to inspire me,” Denise said, “I want to do the same for them.”

Franklin Lee
Years Volunteering: 5
NYRR Open Run Brooklyn Bridge Park Volunteer Captain

Franklin Lee started volunteering in the summer of 2018. He said he not only met a lot of great people but also learned a lot about running.

“That’s the great thing about Open Run—you have runners of all abilities, and so you get to learn about their experiences.”

He became friends with Open Run participants at Brooklyn Bridge Park, Shore Road Park, and Marine Park, and some of them encouraged him to run longer distances.

“There are these incredible women at Shore Road. They were running long distances and every week when I would see them, they would just egg me on.”

He gradually worked his way up to running the NYRR Staten Island Half in 2022. He and one of the women from the Shore Road Park Open Run finished the race together.

“[Open Run] is basically self-care for me. It's an opportunity to interact with people and to do something healthy. The interaction I think is something very important for everyone.”

Lew Malchick
Years Volunteering: 44
Ham Radio Operator Volunteer

Lew Malchick got his license as a ham (short for “amateur”) radio operator in 1959, when he was 14. He began volunteering to provide communication as a public service. During the Vietnam War he volunteered with the MARS (Military Auxiliary Radio System) program, which helped facilitate personal radio phone calls between soldiers and their families.

In 1977, a colleague at Brooklyn Technical High School, where Lew taught radio technology, put him in touch with NYRR, which needed volunteer “hams” to help manage complex communications of the New York City Marathon. Lew signed on.

The services of ham radio operators at mass-participation events are essential and potentially lifesaving. Radios work reliably where cell phones don’t, providing clear, dedicated lines of communication.

Lew recalls riding in the New York City Marathon press truck in the 1970s and 80s, with reporters and photographers balancing precariously on the flatbed, ducking to avoid overpasses, and holding on tightly at turns and intersections.

“People along the course, they’d jump out to interact with a runner or just try and cross the street,” he recalled. “We’d hit the brakes and almost go flying.”

Lew continues to volunteer every year as a “ham” at the TCS New York City Marathon. “Providing public service for public safety—it’s what I do.”

Lois Schwartz
Years Volunteering: 27
TCS New York City Marathon Start Corral Volunteer Leader

Lois Schwartz first volunteered at the New York City Marathon in 1996, when she dropped off her daughter and a friend to volunteer at the start in Staten Island and was encouraged to stay and volunteer herself.

“I got bitten by the bug,” Lois recalled. She’s been volunteering at the marathon start ever since, most recently as a corral leader helping runners line up and prepare to start.

Lois always arrives early at Fort Wadsworth and remains compassionate and enthusiastic throughout her shift, helping both runners and new volunteers. Her positive energy is infectious.

“I have the utmost admiration for people who train and do this. If I can be helpful, it's a good gift to give. You're giving back, you are not the most important component. You’re celebrating other people. You just help someone, smile, and say ‘Have a great race.’”

An educator by profession, Lois is honored to be recognized as an NYRR Volunteer Hall of Fame inductee.

“My commitment was never for recognition. It was to help make something happen.”