| 12/27/2012 |
| Annual 5K to challenge Madison's winter weather |
| By CHUCK CLEMENT, Staff Reporter |
Local residents who support an orphanage in Guatemala have scheduled the third annual 5K fund-raiser, Freeze Your Fanny...Warm Your Heart Fun Run/Walk, right after the start of the new year.
"Participation is always a bit of a question mark because it depends so much on the weather," Larson said. "Last January, we did have good weather for it." For their $35 registration fee, the 5K participants will receive a T-shirt and a chili lunch. Runners can register before the Saturday event by going online to www.allsportcentral.com. The fund-raiser won't solely depend on 5K fees; organizers have scheduled a silent auction and a pie auction at the armory on the same morning. Visitors can also purchase a chili lunch for $5. The silent auction will run from 9 a.m. to noon with the auction participants not required to stay until its completion. Some of the auction items up for bid include a night's stay at the Ramkota Inn in Sioux Falls with six water park passes, a $100 certificate for the Eyecare Center, and a painting created by local artist April Cundy. Organizers expect that the pie auction will start at about 11:15 a.m. The fund-raiser proceeds are dedicated to a Leah's Kids mission trip for 25 persons to visit an orphanage in Guatemala. As part of the Leah's Kids organization, Larson and her husband Chad schedule mission trips each February and sometimes in June. Mission volunteers have helped to build a home at the orphanage. The construction of the home started in 2010 and finished in 2012. Leah's Kids currently supports about 15 children at the Guatemalan orphanage. The group is currently collecting funds to support the home, which has operating costs of about $3,500 per month. The funding provides the children with an education, clothing and food, and heat and salaries for the house parents, tutors and helpers. A website dedicated to the orphanage is located at www.leahskids.org. Money collected from the fund-raiser will also support a second orphanage in Haiti called the Gradec Orphanage. Gradec currently serves about 15 children in the community of Delmas and Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. The licensed, faith-based orphanage opened in 2005, and it has served boys and girls ages 3 months to 13 years. Gradec maintains a website at www.gradecorphanagehaiti.com. Local residents are currently raising funds for the Haiti orphanage, and Larson said that no mission trips to the Caribbean country are planned for now. Contacts for the Haiti project are Linda Cundy at llcundy@hotmail.com and Shannon Dickey at shannondickey@live.com. Anyone needing to contact Larson can call 605-359-2270 or e-mail eyefanatic@aol.com.
|