Friday, May 31, 2013
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick .Mary Shoop (left) and Leslie Prosser prepare to run their second 5K of the year at the Mission of Love 5K run/walk.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick .Fitch High School students, from left, Sarah Sheffield, Sarah Melfe, Kayla Moran and Elizabeth Moiser, wait at the finish line of the Mission of Love 5K run/walk with snacks.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick .The Mission of Love 5K run walk begins.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick .Dolls made by Mayan children.
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Neighbors | Elise McKeown Skolnick .Tori Lehn (left), an Ursuline high School student and volunteer, signs in Kim Bagnoli (right) of Austintown for the Mission of Love 5K run/walk.
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
Runners had a chance to put themselves through their paces, while raising money for a local charity May 19.
The 5K run/walk, offered earlier this month, was the first for Mission of Love, an Austintown-based charity that provides humanitarian aid to those in need throughout the world. Funds raised at the 5K run/walk event will be used to build a home for a Native American family of seven on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
“The poverty is just unbelievable out there,” said Kathleen Price, founder and director Mission of Love.
The 5K run/walk, organized by Price’s daughter Shannon Royea, was meant to raise awareness as well as funds.
Leslie Prosser, of Youngstown, and Mary Shoop, of Salem, said they didn’t know about the organization prior to signing up for the run.
“It sounds like a good cause,” Prosser said.
It was the second 5K run for the pair this year.
“We’re trying to work our way up to a 10K,” Shoop said. “The Peace Race in October.”
To prepare for the runs, they joined a gym and started running on a treadmill.
“We’re having fun,” Prosser said.
Kendra Danzer, of Austintown, also entered for fitness reasons. She participates in three or four runs a year, she said, and typically, the runs are for charity.
“It’s running for a good cause,” she said.
Using items that would be thrown away otherwise, such as medical examination tables and school desks and chalkboards, Mission of Love’s volunteers are able to build schools, clinics, hospitals, and homes.
About 145 people participated in the 5K run/walk.
Guatemalan Worry Dolls, made by a Guatemalan Mayan tribe, were also given out at the race.
“They are part of our mission,” said Price “Service the children in need, they are our greatest teachers in life. These folks never waste anything. With these scraps the little doll is made.”
For more information about Middion of Love, visit www.missionoflove.org.