By Adam Studzinski
NORMAL – The celebration was underway well before the St. Jude Walk/Run was even started Saturday at Illinois State’s Hancock Stadium.
Regional Development Representative Corinne Olsen as of Saturday morning they had already reached passed their $80,000 fundraising goal.
“So now we’re actually stretching to reach $100,000 this morning,” she said.
Olsen explained that’s well above the roughly $68,000 the event raised last year.
“It was the first year that we made the change from November to September and the first year we changed venues and everything,” said Olsen. “Last year was down a little bit (from) previous years.”
While the event is labeled as a Walk/Run, Olsen said it’s really more than that. There are events for all ages to participate in.
“This should be a family friendly event. You should be able to come to this event whether you have kids, don’t have kids, you’re a runner, you’re not a runner,” Olsen said.
The funds raised go towards St. Jude’s Midwest operations in Peoria and Memphis.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].