Annual Fun Run Raises Money For OES

ORLEANS – With parents and family members looking on with signs and pompoms, students at Orleans Elementary School headed outdoors last Friday for a run.

 The school’s second annual Fun Run brought students, teachers, staff and parents out to watch kids stretch their legs and run around the school’s athletic field for a good cause. The event, sponsored by the OES parent teacher committee, is the school’s top fundraiser, with all proceeds going to support various school initiatives.

 OES Principal Elaine Pender smiled as students whizzed by her in all directions.

 “They’re all excited,” she said. “They get T-shirts, they get to run with their friends, their parents are here. It’s a celebration of the best kind.”

 Ashley Ruggieri, a member of the PTC, said that about $13,000 had been raised as of the Oct. 17 event. Last year’s inaugural event raised about $16,000, she said.

 The PTC largely uses the funding to cover the cost of field trips for all students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The money is also used to pay for special guests and other in-school events, Ruggieri said.

 “It adds up, and it’s not part of the school budget,” she said. “We do a lot of teacher appreciation and lunches and stuff.”

 Elementary school families raised money for this year’s event through the online fundraising platform Boosterthon, Ruggieri said.

 “People just go online and they donate,” she said. “The parents send out emails and text blasts saying ‘My kid’s doing this.’”

 Students, as well as some teachers and staff, ran for about half an hour before returning inside. Pender said that while the run is fun for students, it is also beneficial for them in other ways.

 “We know that activity helps with the brain productivity, so we do try to find ways for kids to be active,” she said.