Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) hosted its first fun run last month to support the Southern Maryland Food Bank. More than 200 runners, walkers and families joined the Nov. 9 run around the La Plata High and Mary H. Matula Elementary school campuses as part of the first CCPS 5k Turkey Trot. Participants included CCPS employees.
The event raised $5,300, which Superintendent of Schools Kimberly A. Hill provided to Brenda DiCarlo, director of the Southern Maryland Food Bank, on Dec. 5. DiCarlo said the funds would help to support several food bank programs. “This donation will be used to assist several of our food programs and provide us the ability to feed so many more families and individuals. Your event will be the reason we are able to continue the fight to ease the pain of hunger,” DiCarlo said.
The registration fee helped to support event costs, but the majority covered a planned donation to the food bank.
Several local businesses helped sponsor the event, including CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, Chick-fil-A La Plata, World Gym La Plata, Crown Trophy, Foster’s Grille La Plata, BJ Promotions, Inc. and Magnolia companies.
Sponsor donations included nutrition bars, water and tote bags for participants, to discounted vendor costs for 5k t-shirts, race medals and monetary donations. Hill, as well as Board of Education Vice Chairman Latina Wilson and Board Member Michael Lukas, handed out participant medals at the race finish line.
DiCarlo said the CCPS donation would support the snack sak program, buy 12,000 pounds of food for the Charles County community, and help with dinner costs for the food bank’s mobile meal truck.
Hill’s executive assistant, Debbie Iverson, spearheaded the Turkey Trot planning committee. “The initial goal was to raise at least $1,000 and we surpassed that goal by far,” Iverson said.
Plans are underway for another Turkey Trot in 2020. “We hope to open the event to the community next year for additional participation. This was our first year in organizing such an event to benefit the food bank. We are overwhelmed with the support of our staff, and support of our sponsors,” Hill said.
