Proud to be from Pittsburgh: Team Tassy

Saturday, a group of people from Pittsburgh take off on a run across Haiti.

Team Tassy is going on the 230-mile journey to boost the Haitian people and help them find sustainable jobs. But the adventure is no small undertaking.

"Having to deal with the heat, the new smells, the environment, the rough roads, things to that nature ... that's really to me what's going to be fun and challenging," said Chad Holderbaum, who is running with Team Tassy for the first time.

The mission that fuels Team Tassy is about more than just the challenge of running. It's about changing the lives of the Haitian people.

"We believe that whether you're in Pittsburgh or Port-Au-Prince, we all want the same things: We want the opportunity to put food on the table, keep a roof over our kids' heads and for them to have a better life than we had," said Ian Rosenberger, the founder of Team Tassy.

Team Tassy is named for a young man Rosenberger met in Haiti. Rosenberger was able to bring Tassy to Pittsburgh to have life-saving surgery, and the experience inspired Rosenberger to start the run across Haiti.

"That just brings chills to my ... to my skin. Just because what we can do with our bodies somehow in some way are benefiting a family for gaining, you know, job training or helping kids with educational programs," said Matt Mauclair, who is a first-time runner with Team Tassy.

"It's not really about the speed that we're running across this country. It's about this group getting across the country together and raising awareness for the families that we're working with," said Zack Morgans, who is running for a second year.

To learn more about Team Tassy and the runners, visit teamtassy.org/run-across-haiti

To donate to Team Tassy and the runners, visit crowdrise.com/2017RAH

Cox Media Group