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Tom Gallagher began writing regularly for NCR this past spring as his Mission Management column (See for example, Making the Grade) was introduced. He is our lead writer for the column and identifies examples of best practices found in Catholic organizations. He also is one of the "NCR Today" bloggers.
Like other NCR writers, Gallagher actually has a life outside of the paper.
He has spent most of his professional energies in the practice of law on Wall Street, before moving to an investment banking and securities firm. In 2004, he spent the next three years helping the Missionaries of Charity create and administer the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Center, a New York state not-for-profit organization. He did this on a pro bono basis and traveled to Calcutta, India, and Tijuana, Mexico, on several occasions as part of the effort.
He cofounded a media company called Wake Up! Media, Inc., which creates uplifting digital audio content and this spring released a new CD titled, “Prayer, Always in Season,” by Dr. Kathleen Sullivan of the University of Notre Dame.
Gallagher serves patients at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut as a volunteer eucharistic minister and he is a lector at his parish. Perhaps most unusual is his passion for participating in ultra-endurance footraces in deserts around the world. Yes, footraces in deserts around the world.
These are 150-mile events and take place over six days during which Gallagher carries a 20-pound backpack filled with food, supplies and a sleeping bag. TIME magazine has ranked these races No. 2 in its Top 10 Most Difficult Endurance Competitions.
Gallagher has competed in the Atacama Desert in Chile and the Gobi Desert in China. On Oct. 25, he will be in the Sahara in Egypt, where the finish line is in front of the pyramids in Cairo.
For Gallagher, these events combine, he says, “athletics, spirituality and terrific people in a compelling location -- the desert.”
Gallagher uses his races as fundraisers and raised more than $30,000 for Malta House for women and children in Norwalk, Conn., through the first two races. His goal is to raise $15,000 in the Sahara. You can find out more at www.maltahouse.org.
And, yes, even in the desert, Gallagher will be blogging after each day’s race. You can follow his mind-boggling event at www.4deserts.com/sahararace.
Finally, he lives with his wife, Wendy, in Riverside, Conn., with their dog, Duke.