The Surry County Schools Educational Foundation is hosting the 8th Annual MAD Dash 5K & Fun Run at Fischer River Park in Dobson this coming Saturday.
The race is the foundation’s first fundraiser of the year and will help provide resources for students and teachers, during this school year and into the summer. Partly due to COVID-19 concerns, an option to participate virtually has been added to the event for those who wish to run on their own time. The foundation has named Surry Insurance as the 2021 Event Sponsor.
“Unfortunately, last year, we had to cancel this event due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Ashley Mills, managing director of the foundation. “Losing the fundraiser last year made a negative impact on how the foundation could provide needed resources for students and teachers. I am hopeful this year’s 5K event can get us back on track.”
Compared to last year’s crowd of about 600, Mills noted that 180 participants have signed up for the race so far this year. Mills hopes to get that number to 200 by Saturday’s race. About 300-400 missing runners can be attributed to students in the Surry County Schools GROW Strong program not participating in this year’s event. The GROW Strong program aims to teach elementary students perseverance, responsibility and self-pride through training them to run a 5K. GROW Strong students are running in their own, separate 5K this year.
The lack of participation from GROW Strong students is not the only change in this year’s race, as many alterations were made to combat the issue of COVID-19.
“We would typically have our race starting at Surry Community College and ending at Surry Central High School. We’re at Fischer River Park this year because we wouldn’t want to shut down Dobson for several hours,” Mills said. “We’re gonna have our start times staggered so we don’t have one large group. The first start time is at 8 o’clock, and there’s one every 15 minutes from then on. We’re asking runners to stay in their cars until it’s their start time. They’ll wear their mask crossing the starting line, and once finished they’ll put them back on. I’ll be mailing the medals to the winners after the race.”
Surry County School System students benefit from donors and event sponsors through classroom projects like bringing books about leadership to students. At Dobson Elementary, each student, including those learning remotely, receives a book each month that focuses on a specific leadership trait, such as being considerate. This project, started in hopes of bringing new excitement to reading and reinforcing a leadership framework, is made possible through events like the annual MAD Dash 5K.
”Our foundation is located here in Dobson with Surry County Schools. We do fundraising throughout the year to provide the schools and teachers with educational opportunities they need that don’t already have a budget. Our summer camps, our many grants that we give each year, the schools get an allotment each year that they can use for things that they need,” Mills said.
All corporate teams and individuals can register for the 8th Annual MAD Dash 5K at https://MADDash5K.itsyourrace.com or by contacting Ashley Mills at 336-386-8211. An entrance fee of $30 is required to run in the race. For more information about how donors provide resources to teachers for educational opportunities, please visit www.scsfoundation.org.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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