Over 300 members of the Burke community made donations or participated in the first ever Cherry Run for Charity 5K. Starting and ending at Cherry Run Elementary School, the Saturday, June 10 event raised money for juvenile diabetes.
"We started planning in January and we were looking to do an event for a children's charity that was geared for the community," said Tracy Holcomb, organizer of the event.
Donations not only from participants, but also local businesses were essential for the success of the event. "We had a zero dollar budget," says Wendy Wright, another organizer for the run. "Everything was donated from local businesses. Great Harvest brought bread for the participants, and Whole Foods brought bananas. We couldn't have done it without the sponsors."
Overall, 14 local businesses donated over $250, and several others over $100, according to Wright. Together with the donations from the runners, over $8,000 were raised and will be given directly to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Organizers of the event were impressed with the response from the community and are hoping to make the 5K fun run an annual occurrence, working for a different charity each year. "We chose JDRF this year because they have an excellent reputation of doing what they are supposed to be doing with their donations," said Julie Wines, who was in charge of handling the sponsors for the event.
"We have two students at Cherry Run Elementary who are insulin dependent," she said. "Next year, we are hoping to let the kids be involved and have them vote on possible charities."