This one’s a must.
When you see what the high schools in the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (known as “The Park”) are doing to help three challenged students, you will see what we mean. This is an incredible effort in Plymouth Michigan and Canton Michigan.
P-CEP National Honor Society’s 3rd Annual Community Benefit 5K
3.1 Mile (5K) Walk/Run and 1 Mile Walk/Run
The Plymouth-Canton Educational Park’s National Honor Society will host our third annual 5K on May 5, 2013 at 8:00am on the high school campus. This event was created in 2011 in honor of sixteen year old P-CEP student, Jesse Lindlbauer, when a sinus infection turned into an abscess which ruptured, causing a traumatic brain injury. The SJ5K run was created in order to bring the community support to the family and raise money.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH7YJFq66WU[/youtube]
Helping 3 Students
After a successful event in 2011, the National Honor Society decided to make the SJ5K an annual event to honor local families in need. This year, the race will support three P-CCS students. Our hope is to bring the community together to bring hope, support and necessary funds to the Plymouth-Canton community’s Jayden Gohl, Plymouth High School’s Erinne Williams, and Salem High School’s Max Merget.
Jayden Gohl
Jayden Gohl was born with hydrocephalus, a rare medical condition in which fluid builds up in the brain. Jayden was not expected to live past 6 months, but he beat the odds and is now 4 years old. Jayden has been through 7 brain surgeries and countless doctor appointments. Jayden needs to be watched around the clock and his mother Lauren faces challenges providing for Jayden since she cannot have a full time job.
Erinne Williams
Erinne Williams is a 15 year old student at Plymouth High School and has lived with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a motor neuron disease similar to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) since before her first birthday. Since her diagnosis, Erinne has been through nineteen pneumonias, eleven surgeries, and twenty one hospitalizations. She is confined to a wheelchair and forced to use a breathing machine.
Max Merget
Max Merget is a senior at Salem High School who has battled brain cancer since he was three. In January of 2013, Max was diagnosed with cancer for the fourth time. The previous three times Max beat the cancer, and he is optimistic about beating the cancer for a fourth time. Max loves baseball and has spent his time volunteering—especially for the new Mott’s Children’s Hospital—and has created a nonprofit foundation called maxyourbrain in conjunction with the University of Michigan to help raise money for cancer research. For more information, please visit www.MaxYourBrain.org.
How to Participate
Please join us to raise money and support for these three amazing students by participating in the SJ5K, donating funds, or sponsoring the race. It will be held on Sunday, May 5th, 2013 at 8am beginning at the Canton Varsity Football Field. Registration will begin March 4th and continue until race day; registrations received prior to April 5th will include a race shirt. Registration forms can be found on the SJ5K Facebook page; on the P-CEP website; or, in Canton, Plymouth and Salem Main Offices. Event fees are $25 for adults over 18 and $20 for all others. An optional $5 will be accepted for the maxyourbrain Foundation, as well as a bag of returnable cans on race day (just bring them with you—we will return and donate the money).
Volunteers Welcome!
We will never turn down help! For questions about the race or volunteering, please contact one of the two student coordinators for this year’s event. Devin Slominski can be contacted at devinslim@comcast.net and Madeline Viergutz can be contacted at sj5krun2013@gmail.com. For questions about becoming a sponsor, contact Andrew Kelty at Akelty28@yahoo.com. All donations and sponsorships can be made out to “NHS SJ5K 2013” and can be mailed to Pam Davis, 46370 Spinning Wheel, Canton, MI 48187.
You may also participate by cheering participants as a course safety volunteer; these positions will be posted on the following online sign up Google document beginning on March 17th: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkxDZkpOHrsmdGowbkRzdGJlUkxRTWdrX0M4UXA0cEE#gid=0%20%0D%0A
Thanks, Madeline
Our thanks to student organizer Madeline Viergutz for sharing the news about the SJ5K. Madeline is a senior member of the National Honor Society. The NHS requires members to do an Independent Service Project. This is also her independent study class, so every day during first hour she is working on organizing the SJ5k. Madeline told us, “We have committees for certain areas of the race, and they do a lot of specific jobs, so my job is to make sure everyone gets everything done! I got into this role because I had participated in the SJ5k for the past two years and really liked the way it brought the whole community together.”
Best Wishes!
From all of us here at The Bittinger Team, we wish you a wonderfully successful event. This is a tremendous effort to meet a tremendous goal and we couldn’t be prouder of the students and others who are making a difference in the lives of these three students.
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