Samson Hillary joins us to talk about the Race for Refugees, an event that’s not just about running but about community and compassion. This year’s 5K race takes place in the beautiful Tower Grove Park. Race for Refugees connects to the larger mission of the International Institute of St. Louis, which aims to support and uplift refugees and immigrants. Samson shares his inspiring journey from South Sudan to the States, shedding light on the challenges faced by many from his home country, and the importance of community support.

We also have a good laugh about the quirks of running while discussing how you can join in the fun, whether you’re a seasoned marathoner or just someone looking to enjoy a sunny day outdoors. Plus, we’ve got team registrations, the fun of friendly competition, and why this race is such a big deal for the local community. So lace up those sneakers, folks, because this isn’t just any race – it’s a race for a cause!

Race for Refugees Contact Information - hillarys@iistl.org - 314.283.2887

[00:00] Race Promo Teaser

[00:23] Show Welcome

[01:15] Sponsor and Quote

[02:30] Meet Samson Hillary

[03:32] South Sudan Context

[07:07] Race Basics and Location

[08:28] Registration and Fees

[09:14] Teams and Fun Vibes

[11:14] Family Friendly Details

[13:25] Gear and Where to Sign Up

[15:30] Race Logo Shout-outs

[16:03] Why The Race Started

[17:15] Sign Up And Sponsor

[18:16] Race Day Location Details

[18:44] Break And Sponsor Spots

[21:38] South Sudan Reflections

[23:29] Smart Speaker Listening Plug

[23:59] Today In Weird Holidays

[25:57] Dolly Parton Fun Facts

[29:54] Jokes Signs And One Liners

[32:19] Wrap Up And Thanks

Takeaways:

• The Race for Refugees is set for April 18th and supports a great cause in St. Louis.
• Samson Hillary shared his journey from South Sudan to working with the International Institute.
• Vince Lombardi's famous quote about willpower reminds us that success is about persistence, not just strength.
• The race is a community event where participants of all ages can come together for a fun time.
• You can register for the race on race day, making it easy to join the fun last minute.
• The International Institute of St. Louis emphasizes the importance of supporting refugees and immigrants in our community.

• 2026 — Race for Refugees — Race Roster — Registration, Marketing, Fundraising
• International Institute of St. Louis – Immigrant Services & Community Engagement Hub since 1919

This is Season 9! For more episodes, go to stlintune.com

#raceforrefugees #5Krace #racestlouis #iistl #towergrovepark

If you like to run and you want to help a great organization in St. Louis, the race for refugees takes place April 18th. Find out more on St. Louis in Tune.

Welcome to St. Louis in tune and thank you for joining us for fresh perspectives on issues and events with experts and community leaders and everyday people who make a difference in shaping our society and world. I'm Arnold Stricker along with co host Mark Langston behind the board. He's producing this wonderful show today.

Howdy.

Howdy. How you doing there, partner?

I'm good. I look at some of our past shows on YouTube because we're on YouTube and Facebook and all that and I never see me. So we're.

I'm the guy with the good face.

For radio, the hidden talent behind the machine.

No, we haven't put a camera on me yet.

We'll have to figure that one out.

No, I fought back on that many times.

Get a reverse camera here. On this other one, I'll have to.

Clean up and brush my hair and everything. I'll have to look pretty.

Put those dentures in and.

Oh, that's. Yeah.

I want to thank you for joining us today, folks. We want to thank our sponsor, also Better rate mortgage, for their support of the show.

You can listen to previous shows@st.luntune.com where you can follow us and even leave a review. Our thought to ponder today.

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.

Yeah, willpower, babe.

Very famous person said that.

All right. I have no clue.

A sports figure, a sports coach. Oh, on the gridiron, who won the first Super Bowl?

Who was it?

Vince Lombardi. Yes. Yes. Vince Lombardi.

The difference between successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.

Vince Lombardi.

And you better have a strong will if you're gonna participate in the race for refugees. A 5k race. My gosh, I'd have to walk that.

And I was looking some things up that said, oh, there's a new study out that says running doesn't damage your knees. And I'm like, what study is this? Who do you compare that with? People sitting down in a chair. That doesn't any kind of sense.

We want to welcome Sampson Hillary from the International Institute of St. Louis. Welcome, Samson.

Thank you for having me. I'm glad to be here.

You're here to talk to us about the eighth race for refugees and tell us a little bit about yourself. First, how did you get involved with the International Institute first?

And I came to St. Louis to go to school after graduating, did some different jobs in education and just had a calling to get back into a mission that I care about. So I got lucky, applied for a job at an international institute. I thought they're not going to hire me, but shazam, there I am three years later.

So, yeah, that's how I got involved in the International Institute. And it's been an interesting ride and fun ride since then. Great.

South Sudan has seen over the course of. You said you've been here 20 years, has seen just a terrible kind of war go on over there.

And unfortunately it's always the population of people who suffer while other people are better off than them.

It's a very. And explain to people who may not understand that South Sudan was really part of the Sudan.

Yes.

And what the governmental structure is like there.

And was the Sudan run basically a dictatorship?

Yes, it had. It has been and some would say still is. Omar Bashir was the president and he was deposed by popular uprising.

But that was also lead to the current situation right now where actually Sudan is having has one of the world, the largest displacement of individuals in the world. We think about what's happening in Gaza and what's happening in other places in the world. Sudan is a place that nobody really talks about.

It's outside of the limelight and there are still people who are living in dire situations there as well.

That's true. That's true.

And Mark, this is one of the reasons I wanted to bring that out because the International Institute of St. Louis has a multitude of individuals who come from a variety of countries and you normally hear about like Afghanistan or Afghan refugees. We've heard about the Bosnian refugees, you hear about those from Iraq, but individuals from Sudan and South Sudan specifically.

Just Sampson was saying, forgotten off the beaten path. You don't hear about it in the news at all either.

And there's a lot of really significant kinds of situations going on over there and have gone on for a long time. So thank you for talking about that.

What's the population of South Sudan? Anybody know? People are about approximately millions, I'm sure.

Yeah. Probably over 20 million, I would say.

Okay. That's a good size.

Yeah, it's.

We're.

Yeah, we're a chunky country.

And do they. They have free elections?

Are.

Not quite yet. They're working on it.

It's a work in progress. There's been situations where they said there's not optimal environment for electric for that. It's been pushed back. Pushed back and.

Yeah, but it's an idea that they have that they want to eventually get to. Yes, I can imagine that's tough.

I think the people. I probably shouldn't speak for the people there, but democracy is something that we're interested in hoping for that it's something that will happen.

Some form of it anyway.

Free society is a world kind of thing.

Yeah. I think it's a wonderful thing. It can be.

So let's talk about the race for refugees.

How big is. How big. Can I just speak. I'm not a big runner.

No.

My son's doing it. A half. There's a half marathon coming up.

The St. Louis GO Marathon. Yeah, half marathon.

That's a lot. I know. But metrics has never been one of my. So what is a 5K? How long is really a 5K?

3.1, 3.2 Miles.

Okay.

So it's not that bad. No, it's an hour walk.

Our walk.

Okay. All right.

And it's going to be close by here.

Yeah, it's going to be right here in Tower Grove park by the Sons of Rest Pavilion. So great tile Grove park at this time of the year. All the flowers, all the trees, everything. Life is coming from the plants.

So you get to enjoy an awesome view while running and running for a great cause.

Yeah.

And that pavilion, folks, is off of Grand. So if you go in off of grand course, I'm sure the traffic's going to be crazy.

And.

Yes. So you can be able to park in the park by the race area until 8:30.

Okay.

But after that, we're gonna close it off just for safety. But there's always parking on Arsenal street and in other areas in the park as well.

So there's plenty of parking and the race starts at 9 o'. Clock. Now I want to get into some things, then we're going to get into some details. But can people still register?

Yes, people can. People can still register. We will have race day registration.

So if life gets in your way and you just still show up on April 18th and you want to register, we can accommodate you.

Okay. And you can go to raceroster.com and sign up for the race. Is there a charge to race?

Yes. Right now it's $40 to register and that includes a shirt in that $40. There's a donation to the International Institute as well.

So it's relatively affordable, fun environment to be in.

That's why it's called a race for refugees. You pay for a little bit of things and you're making a donation to the Institute here.

Great cause, Great cause.

And I was reading that you can actually have teams. Yes, explain that one. I've never seen orders of team kind of deal going around the 5k.

You can get as creative as you can. I have actually. There's a lady shout out. I won't say her name, but she was able to get her neighbors, 19 neighbors to register.

So she went around and just talking to friends, neighbors say, hey, I am doing this. Do you want to join me? And people responded to have. Right now, she's currently tied for the largest group.

Yeah.

Registered. So to all those people listening, if you want to try to match her up or at least beat her, 19 is the number to beat.

Right.

And the race is going around Tower Grove park or within Tower Grove Park.

It's within Power Grove Park. It's going to be in and out kind of race. So you go to a halfway point and you turn around and come back.

I thought, Mark, it'd be an interesting race if racing backwards.

Oh, that. Now that. Yeah.

Have you ever done that before?

No, I haven't.

We used to do that in PE class.

Yeah.

Did you?

We'd go backwards.

Yeah.

And then you do you go sideways.

Yeah.

You glide sideways. How about skipping this 5K?

Oh, yeah. Wow.

Potato sack race, 5K.

A sack race, 5K.

It's going to be fun time.

That's right.

Samson's got a lot of ideas. That'll be next year. We're gonna do a sack race. A sack 5k.

Yeah. Yeah. No, that. That would be fun to do something like that with a group of people.

Okay. Outside.

Yeah.

Okay.

In rough terrain, like somebody goes.

We have grass.

Somebody goes a couple hundred yards and passes the baton to something, somebody else. And they keep going like that.

Building team camaraderie right there.

That's right. There are people that get into the race. They do a lot of these races just to get times. Like I saw this leaderboard.

Yeah. Oh, they do, yes.

It's crazy.

Our race can be that, but it normally isn't. It's just a community of people coming in together, just hanging out, having a good time. If you get first place, good on you.

But most people are walking. We have dogs, strollers, kids on roller skates or so it's just a really fun and family friendly environment.

And we have the competitors in there as well, just to spice things it up. But it's usually just everybody coming in to have a good time.

That's the thing. And there's a segment set up for different age groups too.

Yes.

Okay.

So you don't have to be 50 years old or 60 or 70 or 80 and worrying about trying to keep up with those 20 year olds. You can just get your own time and then you get rewarded for doing the hard work that you do to finish the race as well.

Yeah. I looked at the age 60 plus time. That looks like the age 18 and under time.

We have some very fast, mature people.

Yeah.

Last year we had a gentleman. I don't remember. Like I should have asked him how old he was, but in the pouring rain he did the whole. I'm sure did the whole race.

And I saw him finishing the finish line and I was like, more power to you, sir. I respect that.

Yeah.

I respect your commitment to finish the race and I respect your commitment to our mission. And I was very appreciative of that gentleman.

Yeah.

So it's rain or shine then, huh?

Yes, it's rain or shine.

Maybe not thunderstorms.

No, last year we had thunderstorms so we had to delay things a little bit. It's rain or shine and the rain adds to the atmosphere.

I bet it does.

Yeah.

It just has a jumping, splashing puddles.

Yeah. You can see on our website there, there's some pictures of people in the rain and they. I think they look like they're having a good time.

Yeah, I think I'd have a great time too. Actually.

We're talking to Sampson, Hillary about the race for Refugees, which will take place on Saturday, April 18th at 9:00am at the Sons of Rest Pavilion in Tower Grove Park. That's right off the entrance off of Grand Avenue. And Sampson, tell folks again what they will receive during the registration.

Race roster. Right, Race roster.

Yeah, it's raceroster.com raceroster.com and you can.

But they will get. They're just not running. They'll get a nice T shirt or sweatshirt.

They have a T shirt and we have a hoodie option you can purchase. And we actually have different items this year.

We have a shirt that you can purchase besides your race shirt because the race shirt is a big collectible item for people to show off all the races that they've been to. But we have a special design this year. It's everyone welcome shirt. You can look through it, go to the store and you can look at it.

Yeah.

And we have hoodies as well, for the kids as well, because kids like to look comfortable and good as well. So I'm like, yeah.

Have you had companies and sponsors, a group of people from an office say, yeah, we're going to do this. And they kind of do this as a group together.

Yes. We have two companies who are doing that and we want to. That's a place we want to grow. So if any companies are listening, they want to do it. Yeah.

Just reach out to me. I'll.

You want to give a shout out to them or who they are are now.

Oh, we have. I don't know.

Did I put you on the spot there?

They haven't given me any, like, permission to say that.

Okay.

That's okay.

I want to be mindful of people's privacy.

Appreciate that.

Yeah.

And you're also on Instagram and Facebook, so information can be found there. Or you can go to the International institute website. I STL.org and find there's a bar up there for race for Refugees.

Yes.

I love the little logo, Mark. It's a running heart with a headband.

Yeah.

A sweatband.

Yes.

Yes. We have to do shout out to our designer, Joe Moore. He's been fantastic.

All the work, all the artwork and designs that on the page, it's him and Claire over there who have been doing the work. So I appreciate all the hard work they are doing into it.

Applause for them from the Pistachio Gallery, Right?

Yeah.

And why was this race originally formed, Sampson?

She's a wonderful person, wonderful community person who supports the International Institute, who just happened to be an avid runner and the first Trump administrations, with the travel bans and everything. She just wanted to do something to show support and be helpful and she Just wanted to feel empowered.

And she started this race and just hoping 10 people would show up to and then happened to be like 600 people who showed up.

Wow. Yeah, that sounds pretty cool.

Since then, been a community every year that's coming together to just say, hey, there's a lot of things happening out there. But we hear this is what we believe, this is what we stand for. And we're happy to have refugees and immigrants in our neighborhood.

We're happy to have them as friends. We go to their businesses. They help our economy. So we see that refugees and immigrants are an asset in St. Louis, and we're here to stand for that.

That's great, folks. There's 531 participants so far. Wow. You could be somebody who signs up and increase that number. You could also become a sponsor.

Yes.

If you want to do that. How can people do that?

Okay, there you go, folks. And we will repeat that on the podcast page or you can go to iistl.org and you can find SAMS information there and find out more.

How to become a sponsor, because if you become a sponsor, I'm reading this, your company logo is on the race shirt.

Yes.

You get free race registrations and monetary and in kind sponsorships are available. We need the.

Yeah, the whole chicken caboodle is ready for you.

I like the kitten caboodle, I'd say. Yeah. Yeah.

Pavilion near where the, where the. The big festival is every year.

Not quite down that far, not quite.

By the Stop Center. So like right here on grand, when you enter, it's going grand.

It's on the left.

Okay. All right. Okay, gotcha, gotcha. Just checking.

It's on the south side of the entrance off Grand.

Okay. All right. Not that as far down as the festival. Okay. All right.

We're going to take a little break. This is Arnold Stricker with Mark Langston at St. Louis in Tune. We'll be right back.

The United States has a strong tradition of welcoming newcomers and refugees.

The welcome Corps is a new service opportunity for Americans inspired to welcome those seeking freedom and safety and in turn, help strengthen their own communities. Welcome Corps is a public private partnership that is inspired by what Americans represent to so many around the world. A beacon of hope and refuge.

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The Dred Scott Heritage foundation is requesting a commemorative stamp to be issued from the US Postal Service to recognize and remember the heritage of this amendment by issuing a stamp with the likeness of the man Dred Scott. But we need your support and the support of thousands of people who would like to see this happen.

To achieve this goal, we ask you to download, sign and share the one page petition with others. To find the petition, please go to dredscottlives.org and click on the Dred Scott Petition drive on the right side of the page.

On behalf of the Dred Scott Heritage foundation, this has been Arnold Stricker of St. Louis Intune. What a fun time. Mark.

Yeah, I like that guy.

Sampson is very knowledgeable about what he's doing here, which that's why he's employed here.

Yeah, But I was fascinated with his conversation not Only about the race for refugees, but also about the South Sudan which is a very unknown country to Americans and they need to get a lot more familiar with what's going on over there.

I didn't know anything about it until you guys started talking about it.

There had been. The civil war has been going on a long time. There had been a lot of.

How can I. Horrific kinds of events in which people have been killed and maimed and raped and just a lot of refugees.

It's a very poor country, very underdeveloped country and you see this conflict that goes on between Christianity and Islam and it's kind of let's just get along here. But obviously in some parts of the country that is not the case.

No. I never understood religious wars myself. It's like I don't care what religion it is. They usually don't.

They have love and understanding at the foundation of it. Yes, love thy neighbor and yeah, all that kind of stuff. But sometimes it's pretty scary.

Yeah.

And then you get into regimes that are horrific in their kind of heavy handedness and how they like to deal with the people who are struggling and yet they live a pretty high affluent lifestyle.

Yeah, yeah. Don't we know it. Yeah. It's nice to see though that they were able to split the country. That's really quite a feat, I would say.

Yes, that's something. Folks, take a look at. Look up the South Sudan on the Internet, Google it, goggle it. As somebody used to say from the Pawn Stars.

Right.

The old man would say, I goggled it.

Alexa, right?

There you go.

You'll listen right in. And you don't want to miss the show.

No. All of the shows that we have.

That's correct. Now Mark, what are the days of the day that you have found out today?

Oh, let's see if I can find where it just moved on me. It's baby massage day. Draw a bird day. Have you ever drawn a bird? How many feathers do you put on it? I don't even know how many feathers a bird has.

Oh, International Kids Yoga Day. I've never seen a kid do yoga.

Nope.

National All Is Ours Day.

All is ours. That's what. National Dictator Day.

I guess so. Step into the spotlight Day. Yeah. Don't be shy.

Imagines these things.

Your Congress, the government. These are official days. These aren't just. These are like. This is on the calendar. It's going to be here next year, the year after that.

National Zoo Lovers Day.

Okay.

Have you been to the zoo lately?

I have not. I can't remember the last time I was at the zoo.

Yeah, it's been a long time for me, too. But there's some great stuff there, though.

Yes.

Trading cards for Grown Ups Day.

Oh, the kids that never grew up.

That's true. And you know what? Some of those cards are worth a lot of money.

Yes, they are.

I'm not sure if you knew that.

Or not, but we used to take the gum out and put the cards on our bikes.

Yeah.

And probably had that Mickey Mantle rookie card. Yes.

Shoot.

Didn't you?

Oh, that's helpful. Okay. Yeah, we'd use like a. What is a clothesline clip.

Yeah.

And we'd put that on there. We'd bend the card around and until it wore out. And then we, hey, go buy some more. Get some more gum and go at it again.

That's right. I could care less about the cards. I was interested in the sweet, sweet gum.

I can't. We should look up how much a Mickey Mantle card is worth and see what I mean. Maybe I'll try to do that.

A top spooky Mickey Mantle card.

I know. So that's empanada days. What's an empanada? That's something you eat.

Yes. That's a Mexican kind of hola treat.

So it's empanada day. Okay. Yep. There's. That's about. That's. There's nothing real really exciting for today.

I have some exciting mental floss. And it's about Dolly Parton. And her family paid for the cost of her birth in an unconventional way.

They couldn't afford to pay medical bills, so her father, who is a farmer and a construction worker, pay the doctor with a sack of oatmeal.

Is this for real?

This is for real.

All right. So I've met Dolly Parton because my days in country music.

Yes.

I have a picture with Dolly.

Yes.

Sweetest girl in the world. Very top heavy.

She's not very tall, is she?

No, she's short and her waist. I don't know where this came up, but it was Dolly. You're so tiny. We talked about how tiny she was and she says she has a 19 inch waist.

What?

That's what she told me.

Gosh.

I'm just telling you what she said. I got a picture of it. Wow. And I'm just like. And I'm not a very big guy. I'm under 6 foot and she's tinier than me. But that hairdo.

Wow. Hair's eight feet tall.

And she's related to Miley Cyrus somehow. She's a.

She's. I have something like that.

Okay.

She's like a godmother or something like that. Let's see here. She wakes up at 3am to answer mail, make calls and meditate.

Wow.

She once entered a Dolly Parton lookalike contest and lost. I love that. She said at a Halloween contest years ago on Santa Monica Boulevard where all the guys were dressed up like me.

I just over exaggerated my look and went in and just walked up on the stage. She told ABC News, I didn't win. I didn't even come in close. I don't think. She does have her own library, which she promotes literacy.

I've seen signs on the highway. She's given away more than 100 million books to kids.

Does it write stuff for kids? Doesn't she?

It is a part of her imagination. Library. It's a pop culture kind of. She's the pop culture icon. But it's age appropriate books.

They're spread out nationwide as well to Canada, the UK and Australia and kids. Parents can sign up and get free books.

Huh. Do you know how old she is?

I do not. She's what, 79?

I don't know. I know she's getting up there. Yeah.

We could probably check that. She sleeps in her makeup. She says I clean my face in the mornings.

You never know if you're going to wreck the bus, but you never know if you're going to be somewhere in a hotel and there's going to be a fire. So I leave my makeup on at night and clean my face in the morning. She is Miley Cyrus godmother. She says. I've known her since she was a baby.

I know her father, he's a friend of mine. And when she was born, he said, you just have to be her godmother. And I said, I accept.

Oh, okay. So she turned 80 this year.

Her husband just recently passed away.

And the other for the most hits on a US Hot Country Song chart by a female artist.

Good for her.

Has her own cookbook. Prefers birthday pie to birthday cake.

Now you're talking. Yeah, so that would not be a bad idea.

There you go.

Dolly Parton. Dolly Parton.

More than you probably wanted to know about Dolly. We were at a place down in. Where was it?

Oh, God only knows with you.

I think we were down in North Carolina or I can't remember where we. Maybe it's Tennessee. It could have been Kentucky too. They all gone together. But she had her house there. Her house was there.

She recreated her house from another place in Dollywood.

Dollywood.

And yeah, one Dollywood.

Okay. That's in Tennessee.

Yeah.

She's a Tennessee girl, I believe. I would think it would be from Tennessee. So.

Mark, I would never send my mom to a nursing home. She can always stay with my brother, who was always her favorite. And I've been wanting to say this for so long.

You see these commercials that they say, a place for mom.

Right?

A place for Mom. I came up with what happened to dad? Too bad for Dad. A place for Mom. Too bad for dad.

Somebody went to the therapist and the therapist said, and what do we say when we're sad? The person said, add to cart.

That always makes it better, doesn't it?

Oh, mercy. And I think I said this one. But this is last week. But this is appropriate for. For the Artemis returning to Earth.

Oh, I'm so proud of those that.

NASA is launching a satellite to say sorry to the aliens. They're calling it the Apollo G. Wow,.

Arnold, they're not going to let you.

Out of the parking lot. They're going to come after me.

Yes, they are. They're waiting for you outside the door now.

Oh, and then there's the shirt. Signs. Signs are very interesting. We could do a show on signs and the things that are written on signs. There used to be a song.

Signs, signs, everywhere.

Signs.

That song back in the day.

I was singing it when you said it. That's exactly Thursday.

Talk about the scenery break in my mind. Do this. Don't do this. Can't you read the sign? Anyway, this shirt says, I love the sound you make when you shut up. Holy smokes.

There would be people that would wear that.

Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. You know it.

There would be people that would absolutely wear that. And then lastly, I guess I can say this one. Oh, let's see here. Oh, that's the recipe for. Oh, that's a good recipe.

A 12 ounce package of maple flavored sausage with teeth, 3 tablespoons of butter, quarter cup of all purpose flour, 3 cups of whole milk, salt and pepper to taste.

Yum.

Sounds pretty good.

Sounds good.

So in the span of 11 years, 115 people died in a weightlifting accident at the gym. And in the same 11 periods, only one person died eating a donut. So make good choices.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

That's all for this hour folks. We thank you for listening. If you've enjoyed this episode, you can listen to additional shows at stake where you can follow us and leave a review.

Thanks to Bob Berthisel for our theme music, our sponsor, Better Rate Mortgage, our guests Sampson, Hillary and co host Mark Langston. And we thank you for being a part of our community of curious minds. St. Louis in tune is a production of Motif Media Group and the US Radio Network.

Remember to keep seeking, keep learning, walk worthy and let your light shine. For St. Louis in tune, I'm Arnold Stricker.