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Date: 8/25/2020
EASTHAMPTON – The annual Give ‘Em The Bird 5K to support the Easthampton Community Center will be done virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Executive Director of the Community Center Robin Bialecki said with the money that the race raises, it gives a family in need a Thanksgiving meal. They provide a turkey, the fixings and a dessert. Along with what they provide for thanksgiving, the center helps families during the year.
Since the impact of the coronavirus, they have added 450 more families to their pantry program which puts them at serving a total of 1,750 people. Since March 13 the center has given 800 kids bags of food each week. They plan to continue to do this while children are at home remote learning.
Over the past five years, this annual race has raised $100,000 for the Easthampton Community Center. Last year they raised $24,000 in sponsors alone. More than half a dozen sponsors have already committed to this year’s race.
In the past, the race has had 50 plus sponsors but Patrick Brough, one of the race organizers, said he understands if people can’t help because of the hard time they are facing.
Brough said they have been thinking about what to do over the last few months as everything has been playing out in the world. He and another organizer, Eric Poulin, met a couple of weeks ago, and due to the unknown, they thought it was good to get a plan and stick to it.
“This was a way we could do it and set what it would be without changes or canceling it,” said Brough.
They were able to set up the virtual race with Run Reg who is local as well. A virtual race is running the race wherever and whenever during a certain time period. Anyone who wishes to participate in the Give ‘Em The Bird race has from Nov. 23 to 29.
With the race being virtual, anyone in the world can sign up and participate. It is $30 for those who are planning on running and $25 for those who plan to walk.
When you register online, you pick whether you want to do the 5K walk or run or 2K walk, and then you can choose your own path or do the same path that was used in previous years. After the participant runs or walks, they encourage them to submit their recorded time. Although there won’t be a finish line to determine what ranks people are coming in, they will have a list of who finished based on what is submitted.
“Everyone is a winner in this, whether they are running or walking because of what they are giving back to the Easthampton Community Center,” said Brough.
To register visit, www.runreg.com/giveemthebird5k.