5K run/walk to benefit disabled children
Church has raised $150,000 over the years for charities
GILBERTSVILLE » New Hanover United Methodist Church will be hosting its 18th annual 5K run/ walk and one-mile fun run/walk on Aug. 11.
For the first time, the “If You Build It, They Will Run” is “partnering with New Hanover Township Parks & Recreation Department and incorporating the Swamp Creek Park as part of the course, which is just off of Reifsnyder Road,” Race Director Keith Mowery wrote in an email.
The race starts at 2211 Swamp Pike, Gilbertsville. It goes out to Swamp Creek Park, continues through the park, and finishes back in the New Hanover UMC parking lot, according to Mowery.
“We have raised over $150,000 over the race history in total and donated to various charities,” Mowery said.
Proceeds from this event will benefit Happy 2 Be Home.
Happy 2 Be Home enables “families to provide a suitable home environment for children with chronic, long term, multiple disabilities to enhance their quality of life,” according to its website. The organization has installed wheelchair lifts, generators, modifications to bedrooms, as well as bathrooms in the past.
In 2010, the race raised money for the Wendel family, whose daughter Charlotte was hospitalized,” Mowery said.
Susan Wendel approached the New Hanover United Methodist Church congregation and requested that the money leftover that was raised for her family to be moved to another family in a similar situation, according to President and Co-founder of Happy 2 Be Home Scott Hamrick.
“I sat there and thought if this church has this many kids … how many families out there are affected by this situation?” Hamrick said.
Since Happy 2 Be Home’s conception in 2011, the 5K has always supported that charity, according to Mowery and Hamrick.
“We would not be in existence without the 5K,” Hamrick said. “They were our initial funding … We could not be where we are today and have helped the people we have today without the 5K and its volunteers.”
Happy 2 Be Home has helped over 35 families so far, Hamrick said.
“It’s an amazing gift to be able to go up to someone and say I’m here to help,” Hamrick said. “We can’t change the prognosis of the children, but we can take away some of the stress.”
To register, visit http:// www.active.com/gilbertsville-pa/running/distance-running-races/5kif-you-build-it-they-willrun-2018. It costs $25 for the 5K run and $15 for the one-mile fun run/walk. The pre-registration discount ends on Aug. 5.
Same day registration is accepted as well. Prices rise to $30 for the 5K run and $20 for the one-mile fun run/walk.
Registration begins at 7:15 a.m., and the 5K race/walk starts at 8:30 a.m. The one-mile fun run/walk begins at 8:35 a.m.
Prizes will be handed out for the top three times for males and females in 11 different age group categories, Mowery said. There will also be a top male and top female award.
The event will be held rain or shine.