The second summer DRE was at Beat the Heak 5K held at Woodbridge Town Hall on June 18th from 8am to 1pm. The charity race and walk event was organized by One Innocent Life, a non-profit organization advocating fire safety awareness. The founder of the non-profit, Jeff Block, has been campaigning for fire safety standards in homes since 2012, when his daughter, Eva, and her two friends, Kerry and Kevin, died in a fire in off-campus housing at college. Recently, Block has accomplished implementing a requirement for any dwelling unit to have an operative fire sprinkler system, whether it be a public or private property.
Block allowed Give A Spit to join the 5K event to participate in the festival behind the town hall, where Eggy played upbeat summer band music and local artisans displayed their crafts for spectators. There were also two food trucks present for post race runners who wanted to get a quick victory meal.
Because this was the first (probably annual) 5K race One Innocent Life held, the attendance was minimal but it was a lively crowd. Eggy provided great music so many runners and their family and friends stayed after the race to stop by the festival, sat on the grass, or walked around to visit each artisan or vendor. I, unfortunately, place my table facing directly the sun. While other vendors had brought a full set of table and tent, I had my fold-up table and I literally had to “beat the heat”! However, I did talk to a few runners and spectators who were all very friendly and supportive of what I am doing, but none were really committed to register yet–which is understandable!
Jeff Block came by after the festival had ended (around 12:15pm), which was much earlier than the supposed 1pm closure time, and was appreciative of me volunteering for the great cause but also apologetic for the low turnout for the festival. I thanked him for the opportunity of being there and explained I also like to spread awareness and that it’s not just all about finding donors to register! He is an great person, and I’m very happy that he turned a unpleasant memory into an inspiring goal of spreading awareness with a non-profit organization. Check it out at www.oneinnocentlife.org.
The third and final DRE of the summer was held recently on August 13th, a Saturday, at West Haven High School. The race was called Hope Is Coming 5K, and it is the 8th annual charity run where proceeds benefited the Healing Environment Patient Care Initiative at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
The race director, Tracey Sullivan, was very generous and helped publicize Give A Spit and other vendors at the start of the race, hoping that after the race the runners and spectators will visit the tables set in front of the school. The race has grown over several years where local businesses helped to support the event by their sponsorships and local residents have come out to celebrate and ignite the feelings of hope. Visit www.hopeiscoming5k.com.
The weather was terrific and my fellow vendors were all really friendly. I talked with several people who have heard of Be The Match and one woman mentioned she had not received any mailings from BTM, even though she was well within the age requirements for registration. I advised her to sign up again, and she happily agreed. On that day, I had 3 new donor registrations in the box. Tracey was the prime reason for that day’s success, because without her persuasions for the runners and spectators to visit all the sponsors and vendors, the tables wouldn’t have gotten the attention they deserved! I thanked Tracey for the opportunity and I hope Give A Spit will make its way back next year.
August 13th, 2016 marked the last DRE of the summer, but there are still many more to come. As school begins in a couple days, I plan to make senior year of my high school career and of Give A Spit a terrific year! There will be many DREs and fundraisers so get ready for many updates!
Race Start
Thank you for reading! Please spread the word on my mission and campaign, “Give A Spit”, adapted from Give A Spit About Cancer, DoSomething.org, to raise awareness about blood cancers and recruit donors for Be The Match’s bone marrow donor registry. There will be a social media account for Give A Spit soon-I am undecided between Facebook and Instagram-too keep you even more updated with insider news and pictures!
Lillian Zhang
Give A Spit 