One of the best parts of the St Jude Kewanee to Peoria Run? The final lap around the Peoria Civic Center with each city represented by their respective team shirts.
The St Jude Kewanee to Peoria (K2P) run starts in Kewanee at 5 a.m. on July 20 with a police escort, and raises both funds and awareness for the children and families of St. Jude.
The group (consisting of members from Henry County, Stark County, and beyond) teams up with RVs, vans and buses to transport runners, volunteers and money collectors (aka can shakers) from each leg of the run to the next, picking up runners who complete their portion (between 1-5 miles each) and dropping off the next group of (somewhat) fresh legs to pick up the (figurative) baton.
The group traverses 54 miles through Henry and Stark Counties, stopping in Toulon, Wyoming, and other locations (Tanner’s Orchard this year) for refueling and wardrobe changes before ending the day outside the Civic Center around 4 p.m.
Runners, drivers, and can shakers collectively don the Kewanee to Peoria team shirt and are welcomed into the Civic Center by family, friends, and the many other cities that also ran to Peoria that day (including the large group that ran from Memphis, Tenn.).
Thanks to donations from local businesses, this year’s shirts will be provided at no cost to anyone registered with the St. Jude K2P Run.
“We are grateful to Great Dane and Kewanee Physical Therapy and Rehab Specialists, who donated $500 each to cover the cost of the shirts,” said Lacey Rosenberg, one of the race organizers. “These sponsors are one of many reasons the team will get closer to reaching the cumulative goal of raising $60,000 for St. Jude.”
Kewanee Physical Therapy has offered their facility and parking lot on North Main Street as a home base for the run and anyone in the community is welcome to join the group and send them off in style on run day.
Other local supporters of the St Jude K2P Run include a cash donation from Good’s Furniture; Midland Golf Course hosted a Dueling Pianos Fundraiser plus silent auction; The Wyoming Junior Fairgrounds is hosting a tractor pull fundraiser on run day; and Tanner’s Orchard is sponsoring a rest break on run day despite not being open for the season.
There’s still time to sign up (the deadline is June 26th) and anyone interested in running, volunteering, driving, or can shaking can sign up here: https://stjuderuns.org/runs/satellite/kewanee/.
The only requirements? Comfortable shoes and a generous heart!
