Race for our Heroes

As one of their major service projects for the year, Kernersville Interact clubs have collaborated to host a Wounded Warrior 5K, called Race for Our Heroes, at Fourth of July Park on Saturday, February 13 at 9:30 a.m.
The local Interact Clubs hosting the event include Glenn High School (GHS), East Forsyth High School, and The North Carolina Leadership Academy.
Sunni Lauten, liaison for the GHS Interact Club and a member of the Kernersville Rotary Club, explained that they chose to do a Wounded Warrior 5K because the Interact clubs wanted to do something that involved the community.
“The Interact clubs do two projects each year – one that impacts the community and one that helps people internationally,” she said, noting that they will be holding a bubble soccer game in March or April of this year to help raise money to build a well in Africa. “All of the Interact clubs have their own small projects, but collaborating together shows we can cross those competitive borders.”
Since it isn’t easy to get students from three schools together to plan an event of this magnitude, Lauten said there has been a lot of communication through group texting and emails.
Lauten said because the Town of Kernersville put on a Wounded Warrior 5K in the past, it helped them with a starting point.
Lauten said when holding a Wounded Warrior race, the organization or group holding the race must give it a name, so they decided to name it “Race for Our Heroes” in support of American soldiers.
Lauten said her son is a Marine and is planning to come to the race.
“These soldiers like to support each other,” she remarked.
Lauten said the Interact Club started with a summer camp this past summer at the Rotary Youth Leadership Academy. Once school started, Lauten wanted to start a club at GHS.
“We had 147 students join,” she remarked.
Bibiana Torres, a GHS student and project chairman, said she never thought she would have helped plan a 5K.
“I thought it would be a great experience,” she said. “Some students from Glenn are planning to run, and we have asked all the sports teams to participate. Hopefully, our ROTC groups will be up front.”
The race is being hosted by On The Mark and will be chip timed. There will also be trophies for all ages, as well as t-shirts and food trucks.
The 5K run/walk is $35/adults and $15/students until February 12.
The race will begin at Fourth of July Park and run through the neighborhood across the street. Fourth of July Park is located at 701 West Mountain Street. To register for the race, visit www.runsignup.com/Race/NC/Kernersville/RaceforourHeroes.