Lenape High School hosting Kevin Todd Memorial 5K Run and Walk on May 10
The legacy of a 1975 Lenape High School graduate lives on in one of the school community’s largest fundraisers of the year.
Lenape High School is hosting its fourth annual Kevin Todd Memorial 5K Run and Walk on Saturday, May 10 at 9 a.m. The event will begin on the school’s track, and the runners and walkers will traverse a course around the campus.
The event is being held to raise money for Spirit of the Holidays, an organization supporting families who have someone diagnosed with HIV or AIDS.
This is the fourth year the 5K walk is being held. Jennifer Gaffney and Jaime Fauver, media specialist at Lenape, have been organizing the event the past few months. They helped the event grow from just a walk in 2011 to a walk and run, complete with other family friendly activities last year.
“We’re trying to grow it into more of a district event,” Gaffney said.
Spirit of the Holidays has a connection with the Lenape high school district. The organization was founded in honor of 1975 Lenape graduate Kevin Todd. Todd was later diagnosed with AIDS, losing his battle with the disease in 1997.
After his death, Todd’s sister Lisa O’Neill started a scholarship in her brother’s honor. This eventually evolved into Spirit of the Holidays.
O’Neill, a graduate of Cherokee High School, has stayed involved in the school district, reiterating her organization’s mission to today’s students.
“She goes to different schools and talks to the health classes about AIDS awareness and being safe,” Gaffney said.
The idea for the AIDS walk originally came from seniors throughout the district who had attended a similar event in Philadelphia.
“The seniors in the district cover AIDS as part of the health curriculum,” Gaffney said. “Our health teachers would take students to Philly every year for the AIDS walk.”
The event has grown in popularity each year. A 5K run around the Lenape campus was added in 2013, and this year, the walkers will follow the same route as the runners for the first time.
“There’s a course,” Gaffney said. “Our track coach helped us map it out last year.”
In addition to the walk and run, the community is invited to come out for an afternoon of family activities, including food, music, raffles, face paint and more.
For the first time this year, runners and walkers were given a chance to fundraise before the event and gather sponsors. Lenape students also have the opportunity to earn three service hours if they participate.
“We have the $20 entrance fee that goes toward Spirit of the Holidays,” Gaffney said. “But we’re adding that people can also get sponsors.”
Gaffney hopes the event will bring in even more money than in previous years with the extra sponsorship. Last year’s event brought in a little more than $3,000 for Spirit of the Holidays.
Because of a lack of funding for AIDS and HIV patients, Gaffney said any extra money would be huge for the organization.
“There’s just not that much funding for people who have it,” she said.
Members of the community who want to walk or run in the event do not need to pre-register. Volunteers will be available starting at 8 a.m. on May 10 for anyone who wants to register immediately beforehand.
To register prior to the event, forms can be found at www.lrhsd.org. For more information, contact Gaffney or Fauver at jgaffney@lrhsd.org, jfauver@lrhsd.org, or call (609) 654–5111 ext. 3555.
