By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
For the third straight year Colonel Crawford students and student organizations are literally putting their feet on the ground to raise funds for a cause that affects one of their own.
The Third Annual Steps for a Cure 5K will be this Saturday at the William and Hannah Crawford School. FCCLA President Jordan Studer has had role in the previous two races and does again this year.
“It’s a lot of work,” Jordan conceded. “That’s why we decided to involve all of the clubs and school things. Every year we’ve grown with the amount of clubs we have involved. It helps us get the word out.”
In addition to FCCLA at Colonel Crawford, the LEO Club, FFA, National Honor Society, Project Black and Student Council are all involved in organizing and putting on this year’s race.
One might think that with all those people involved that coming up with a common cause to raise funds for that everyone could agree on would be a Herculean task in itself.
Not so, said Jordan.
“Once we set it we knew.”
This year’s theme is “Steele a Dream for CCHS Student Cade Coffman.” Funds will be used to help fund a very special treat for Cade, a sophomore at Colonel Crawford who has muscular dystrophy. The balance of the money raised by Steps for a Cure will be given for muscular dystrophy research.
“We tried to think of a whole lot of ideas,” Jordan said about brainstorming to come up with a beneficiary. “Cade Coffman is such a (ray of) sunshine to our school. He’s always rolling around with a smile on his face.”
The money raised for Cade, who is a huge Steelers’ fan, will be used to help fund a trip for Cade to attend a Steelers’ game.
The 5K is slated to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday, but race day registration is available prior to the start time for a fee of $20 beginning at 9. So far 143 runners have registered for the race.
Awards will be given to the first overall male and female runners and for the first three places in each age group. There will also be snacks and door prizes, but those winners must be present to win.
Jordan said they have had lots of help from “quite a few sponsors.”
She said there is no specific goal set as far as the amount of money they would like to raise for this year’s race.
“As much as we can,” Jordan said with a smile. “Every year it has increased – so we just hope it keeps increasing.”
An addition to the fundraising arm of the race this year is a raffle with tickets on sale now and at Saturday’s race for $5 each. The winner, to be chosen at a later date, will get one year’s free membership to the Fitness Warehouse on Windfall Road.