Kiwanis Club .5K Walk Skip Run to Donate Funds to ISVI

By Gary Scott on February 25, 2017 at 10:37am

The 7th annual Jacksonville Kiwanis Club .5K Walk Skip Run is just over a month away.

Each year, local residents participate in the .5 Walk Skip Run, a non-profit organization that helps raise money for various area organizations.

Kiwanis Club member and event organizer Bruce Surratt joined WLDS’ AM Conversation on Friday. Surratt feels fortunate that the .5K has continued for this long, and explains how the idea originally came about.

“At the time, we were thinking of a way to help the community, and in particular that (first) year, The Salvation Army was the beneficiary of all the money we raised. Here over the past six years, we’ve donated over $30,000 to local projects here in Jacksonville,” says Surratt.

Surratt says this year, the money raised will go towards one of Jacksonville’s educational institutions.

“This year we’re quite excited that the money is going to go to the Illinois School for the Visually Impaired Warriors. That includes their cheerleading, their swimming, their track, their debate team, things that may go wayside because of the state’s budget,” says Surratt.

He explains some of the difficulties faced by ISVI students, and how the fundraiser hopes to help. Their parents are not there when they need extra money for an event or something, the parents can’t from Chicago or southern Illinois and do all the things that parents in public schools can do. They’ve been so lucky in the past to have such great teachers that try to have fundraisers for them, but this year, with the second year in a row with the help of Kiwanis, we’re going to try and raise them a bunch of money,” says Surratt.

“The thing that makes it difficult for these young people living at ISVI is that they’re dormitory kids.

It’s $20 per person to participate in the event, which includes a t-shirt with registration. The .5K Walk Skip Run will take place April 1st starting at 11 a.m. at Don’s Place and wrap up at Bahan’s Tavern.