I am a little tardy in posting this note! We participated in the Sporting Life 10k last month and I just wanted to make a few quick comments on that event.

Many years ago, we decided that we wanted to focus our fundraising and giving efforts on one idea – get more kids to camp! Over the years, we have followed that path and it has been very rewarding. This particular event is quite unique and inspiring – 25,000 runners and walkers raising money to enable more children to attend Camp Ooch, a camp serving children with cancer. I wish we did not need a camp like Ooch but, given that we don’t have a cure for cancer, this is a pretty special place for them to go. Shane was a volunteer counselor there for a few years. For a pretty small team, we raised a pretty good amount and I am proud of that.

We are not all runners, I assure you. We have a couple that were aiming to do 10km in 40 min and we have others that would be happy with a brisk walk at 110 min. Some people trained for several months to achieve personal bests…others of us “winged it” on the day of. I love that so many people of varying talent levels jumped in to participate. Hard to exactly describe, but there is something very gratifying watching everyone participate, have some laughs and all work towards a meaningful goal of getting more kids to camp.

We owe a big thanks to our leader, Goran. He recruited, inspired and cajoled us to raise more money. When we thought we had done pretty well, he raised the bar and said “let’s get some more.” Thanks Goran!

Many of you are running camp at this stage…some of you are about to begin. Make it a great summer for those campers!