Racing to aid the less fortunate

Hundreds of children, including more than 70 from Heritage School in Lodi, participate in a quarter-mile and a five-kilometer race during the Race Against Hunger on Thursday in Stockton. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

Racing to aid the less fortunate

Eastside Lodi youths run Thanksgiving race, donate food

By Layla Bohm
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Friday, November 28, 2008 6:25 AM PST

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At 6:30 on Thanksgiving morning, most people in Lodi weren't doing a lot.

Fog had settled in, the air was cold and many people were enjoying the warmth beneath blankets.

But at Heritage School, some 70 children were dancing and skipping on the sidewalk, eagerly waiting for a school bus that would take them to a foot race in Stockton. Some were eager to run a quarter-mile race and others were ready to tackle the 3.1-mile course.

The children are part of an after-school running club organized by a mother and daughter who both teach at Heritage. Their goal is to provide a positive, low-cost outlet for children on Lodi's Eastside, home to some of the city's poorer families.

For 8-year-old Samantha Martinez, Thursday's event was one pinnacle in the running club.

"I like running club. You get to run, and you get to go to races," Martinez said, adding that she dreams of one day running the Boston Marathon, the most celebrated event in the American running world, since only qualified runners may participate.

Thursday's Run Against Hunger benefited Stockton's food bank, so the children also took pride in saving their precious dollars so they too could donate food.

Romiro Ordinda, left, and Edwardo Delgado, students at Heritage Elementary School in Lodi, deposit food donated by students into the Run For Hunger donation bins Thursday. (Dan Evans/News-Sentinel)

One day a few weeks ago, club organizer Janine Jacinto called all the children together and asked how many occasionally get a dollar to spend on hot Cheetos or a soda. Many of the children jumped up and down, saying, "I do! I do!"

Jacinto challenged the children to save at least one of those dollars and instead put it toward buying food for the needy.

In the meantime, Jacinto and her daughter, Melanie Leach, went shopping for canned and boxed foods. The two teachers and distance runners opened a mini-store at the school, where the running children could bring their dollars to buy canned food for the race.

Some students asked if they could bring $2, or even $5. And one donation brought tears to Jacinto's eyes.

"One of the families we had helped last year that had a really hard time, the mom sent a check for $20 so her kids could buy some food and donate it today," Jacinto said. "They accepted help when they needed it, but when they could donate, they did."

On Thursday morning, a packed yellow school bus rolled into the parking lot at the Stockton Ports ballpark, where the race was held. The students bounded out the doors, then scrambled to take more than 150 food items to boxes waiting at the race entrance.

At 8 a.m. on the dot, a horn sounded and the children were off and running a lap around the ball field. Parents and adult runners cheered them on as the youngsters raced the loop and entered a finishing chute.

All told, 3,000 runners took part in the run, which included a 5,000 (3.1-mile) and a 10,000 (6.2-mile) race. Now in its third year, the annual event continues to grow and had its largest field of entrants yet, said coordinator Tony Vice, whose Fleet Feet Sports store sponsors the race.

The Lodi students formed a good-sized crowd, many of them proudly wearing their blue Heritage School T-shirts. Many also wore New Balance running shoes, which were donated last year by Omega Nu, a Lodi philanthropic group, and Vice's store.

The students get to wear the shoes every Friday after school at running club, where Jacinto and Leach guide them through some stretches as well as runs. About 90 children show up each week, including about half a dozen seventh and eight graders who sometimes pay their own public bus fare so they can get across town in time, Jacinto said.

The club doesn't have dues or expensive equipment, because the organizers don't want to shut out children who don't have the money. Thursday's school bus and race entrance fees were paid for through a grant from the United Way.

The club started about six years ago when Jacinto was teaching at Needham School. Then she went to Heritage, formed a club there, and now it has grown exponentially.

For some students, like 7-year-old Max Tamez, the club is a place where he can run with his buddies and release a fraction of the energy that keeps him going all day.

He used to play soccer in Stockton, but the travel time to practices got to be too much, said his father, Soro "Junior" Tamez.

"They said they had a running club at school and Max said, 'I want to run! I want to run!'" Tamez said, smiling as his son bounced around greeting his countless friends.

Now Max runs all the time. On Wednesday morning he frantically called his father at work, thinking he had missed the race — Max was so eager for Thursday's run, he got the days mixed up.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

election year wrote on Nov 28, 2008 5:20 AM:

" Kudos to Ms. Jacinto and Ms. Leach for organizing this great activity for kids and taking much of their own time to find funding from the community (Thank you, Lodi organizations!) to get kids involved in physical and philanthropic activities. Keep up the good work! "

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