Lake Run Club Community Blog

  ABC#173 on September 3 was a great success with $1520 donated to Seedling Theatre thanks to the generosity of everyone involved. It truly made our celebration of the ABC Run program exceeding $200K in donations a memorable experience. Thanks much to: (a) Laurel & Larry Schumacher for being awesome hosts at their home. (b) 56 participants plus five other donors. (c) Betty Brandt , for getting the Trivent sponsorship covering the t-shirts and much of the food. Betty also provided the cool Lake Superior “ABC 2022” painted stones. (d) Seedling Theatre for donating tickets to an upcoming performance for our drawing. (e) Everyone who brought food ! I don’t recall who all brought food, but Stacy Sheridan kept the “Meg’s coffee cake” tradition alive and Laurel Schumacher prepared the biscuits & gravy. (f) Mike Laffey for taking all the great photos. Seedling Theatre is a wonderful theatrical program for children & young adults & adults with disabilities, as well as th

  ABC Run #172 was at Underwood Park, the start of Meg’s Miles, on June 12. An excellent total of  $3,390 was donated to St. Jude by the 25 attendees plus several runners that donated online or sent a check. Pretty good turnout for a day in which storms were forecast. Luckily the rain held off until we finished. Thanks so much to all participants and donators, Rebecca Africano for making “Meg's coffee cake”, Mike Laffey for taking photos and bringing coffee cake, Tammy Knippenberg for making cinnamon rolls, and Sandra Sharp for bringing the bananas. We’ve held a total of 20 ABC runs for St. Jude and the total of those runs is $37,593. The total for all 172 ABC runs is $201,354 . Wow! We just passed $200,000 this event! What a milestone! Thank you…thank you…thank you for all of your support over the years! 

 ABC#171/Multi-Sport Day was a success with $1800 donated to Timber Pointe Outdoor Center! The weather forecast was scary but we had 31 on-site participants. The on-line sign up was a good addition as half of the donations were made on-line. A majority of those donating on-line were able to attend. Thanks so much to everyone who donated, attended, organized, volunteered, brought food, cooked, and enhanced the day with your enthusiasm. The storms held off and we were lucky to do it all: run, swim, bike, and eat! At 55 degrees, it was a bit cool for the swim and the bike though.   At 8:00, we gathered to hear Lydia Gartner thank us and briefly tell us about Timber Pointe’s programs.   We then quickly took the group photo and ran, hoping to beat the rain. Most runners ran the road course but a few ran the well-marked trails (thanks to Rich Beal). At 9:00, swimmers headed down to the dock for the open-water swim. The water temperature was 71 degrees so it was definitely a day for wea

Fantastic ABC run! A total of $3,574 was donated to The Baby Fold by 54 participants, including 49 attendees plus another five that either mailed a check or used the online option. Among the participants were the LRC Wave Training Group and several runners attending their first ABC run. Thanks so much to everyone for your generosity and enthusiasm! Thanks to The Baby Fold team (Aimee Beam, Jessica Shaw, Claire Wagner) for providing a warm welcome and lots of food & beverages. In addition, several participants brought great food to share. I don’t know who all the providers were but I did note (and ate) cookies brought by Dawn Dieckgrafe and Kevin Fahling. Stacy Sheridan made two coffee cakes! Thanks a million!  Thanks also to State Farm for their matching program. Please remember to submit your donations to the program. It could make a big difference to The Baby Fold, perhaps adding another 30%, considering the number of employees/retirees in our group. . Please remember to subm

Meatloaf sang “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad” about looking for a good time. When looking for a good time to run, one out of three ain’t bad. February 19 was (1) windy and (2) cold but (3) sunny, so it turned out pretty well with $695 donated to Scott Early Learning Center. Thanks so much to the 16 attendees and two other donors for your generous support of children in our community. Scott ELC will benefit even more when State Farm employees/retirees apply under their matching grant program. We met at Underwood Park in Normal for convenient trail access and to avoid having a group gathering indoors at this time of covid precautions. We did manage to get a group photo with those in attendance at 8:30. Then, most went for a run while Pat Sheridan cross-country skied. The food was delicious, making it worth freezing our fingers while tailgating in the parking lot. . Thanks so much to Stacy Sheridan for making Meg’s coffee cake (and warm in the insulated container), Tammy Knippenberg for

  ABC Run #168, for Sugar Grove Nature Center, 1-15-2022 Wow! $2,807 was donated to Sugar Grove Nature Center by 36 participants, including donations from 10 that could not attend. That’s the highest total of all 17 ABC events that have been held for SGNC. Thanks everyone!  When I arrived, Jill Wallace of SGNC was already there with the coffee, hot water, hot chocolate, fruit, and treats. A big thanks to Jill for doing a superb job of hosting.  After posing for the group photo, most of the participants took to the trails which were in great shape. Rich Beal and Tammy Knippenberg were the only runners opting to endure the 20 mph winds out on the 7-mile road course. We enjoyed a variety of great eats after the run. Laurel Schumacher brought Meg’s Coffee Cake, Stacy Sheridan brought “No Bake Energy Bites”, Kevin Fahling brought cookies, Rebecca Africano provided cookies, Tammy Knippenberg brought cinnamon rolls, Rich Beal brought turnovers, and Jill Wallace provided beverages

ABC Run #167, for Adopt-A-Family