Dr. Gervasi named honorary chairman for sixth annual St. Jude Quincy to Peoria Run
The QU president joins team of runners, volunteers to bring hope to children fighting cancer and other catastrophic diseases.
Quincy University President Robert Gervasi will join dozens of runners and volunteers throughout the region who will make a 135-mile trek this summer to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., and its Midwest Affiliate in Peoria.
The sixth annual St. Jude Quincy to Peoria Run will take place Aug. 6-7.
“It is an honor to serve an organization that is relentless in its research and treatment of catastrophic diseases in children, especially pediatric cancers,” Gervasi said. “I look forward to lacing up my shoes and running beside many others raising awareness for St. Jude Hospital.”
Gervasi, an avid runner, has completed 12 marathons. But he knows this running event isn’t about the running. It’s about saving children’s lives and giving hope and support to families.
St. Jude, founded in 1962 by entertainer Danny Thomas, is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatments that are not covered by insurance. Families without insurance are never asked to pay. St. Jude fully pays for lodging, food and travel for patients and their families.
In addition, St. Jude is a world-renowned research hospital and freely shares its research with health-care facilities around the world.
“The research that has been done at St. Jude has greatly improved survival rates of childhood cancers,” said Justin Wollbrink, who coordinates the Quincy run with Rick Meehan. “As just one example, the survival rate of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer, has gone from 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today. But more work still needs to be done to ensure Danny Thomas’ dream is realized, that no child should die in the dawn of life.”
The St. Jude runners will begin their journey on Friday, Aug. 6, and will run relay style in one- to three-mile segments until they reach their destination on Saturday, Aug. 7. Upon arrival in Peoria, they will join runners from Memphis and other running groups to help kick off the 2010 St. Jude Telethon at the Civic Center in Peoria.
They’ll run for about 24 hours, rain or shine, most likely in oppressive heat.
But runners say that what they go through on the trip — going without much sleep, battling the heat and dealing with aching muscles — is nothing compared to what the children being treated at St. Jude and their families must endure.
“That’s why we do this,” Wollbrink said. “It’s not about the running. It’s about fundraising. It’s about the kids.”
The Quincy run has raised more than $227,000 in its first five years.
Runner recruitment for 2010 has begun. Each runner or volunteer is asked to raise $500. Wollbrink emphasizes that participants do not have to be “good runners,” and that each person can run as little or as much as he or she chooses.
Participants get a unique running experience and enjoy a great sense of camaraderie.
Corporate sponsors also are needed to ensure that all money raised by a St. Jude runner goes directly toward research and the treatment of children being cared for at St. Jude.
TO GET INVOLVED IN THE ST. JUDE QUINCY TO PEORIA RUN OR TO DONATE: Contact Justin Wollbrink, Run Coordinator, at (217) 224-9043 or justin@jhconcrete.com or go to www.quincystjuderun.org.
