Lake Run Club Community Blog

  Wow! A total of $2,450 was donated to Adopt-A-Family by the 29 participants on November 5, plus six other supporters that were unable to attend. This will provide a great Christmas for our assigned family and might be enough for two more families. Those that submit their donations to their corporate matching gift program will help even more.   Thanks, everyone, for your support and thanks to Lisa & Jay Sparks for doing a great job hosting at their home.   At 9:00, Lisa thanked everyone and briefly told us about the program. After a group picture, we headed out for a run or walk on the constitution trail. There was a weather advisory, but we lucked out and the rain and stronger winds held off.   Thanks to Mike and Dawn Laffey for bringing Peter and Pam Helander to their first ABC run. Peter and Dawn are great friends from Wisconsin that happened to be in town for the weekend. We were treated to a superb breakfast of blueberry pancakes prepared by Jay Sparks , coffee ca

  October 2 th was a beautiful day at Sugar Grove Nature Center and $992 was donated to Heartland Head Start thanks to the generosity of twenty participants plus three others that sent a donation. Erica Tisdale from Heartland Head Start kicked things off by thanking us and telling us a bit about Heartland Head Start. Over the years, we have completed fifteen runs to benefit HHS, raising a grand total of $11,169.   Money raised has helped the agency pay for playground equipment, classroom supplies and various classroom projects. After taking a group photo, we took off to explore the area. Some running, some walking, some on the trails, some on the road. Beautiful weather. What a perfect day!   Thanks to all who participated, donated, brought food, and helped out. Thanks to Stacy Sheridan for making Meg’s coffee cake, Sharon Cochran for goodies from Ivy Lane Bakery, Drew Gutu & Erica Tisdale for fruit and snacks, Todd Schneider for bringing water, and Bill Hahm & Mike

  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