River Green Runs for Kim

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River Green Runs for Kim
June 14, 2009
By Cristina De Martini

In an aw-inspiring show of support, 362 residents of River Green community gathered together on May 9^th in memory of Kimberly Davis Hicks, a former resident and friend. It was the first annual River Green Run, of which proceeds, this year, were donated to the Cherokee Family Violence Center, an organization that offers crisis intervention, emergency shelter, legal advocacy, and community education to help prevent domestic violence. The 2009 River Green Run raised $5,825 for the center.

The event was conceived and organized by John and Linda Rust, neighbors within the community. Wanting to hold the run in May to recognize National Domestic Violence month and to celebrate Kim’s life near Mother’s Day (Kim being a mother of two sons), John and Linda organized the event within an amazing 18 days. The event included a 5K Run, a 1 Mile Walk, and a 1 Mile Fun Run for all ages.

“The River Green Run helped to heal a sad and senseless tragedy by providing a way for the community to come together and show their support and generosity,” said Adele Brown, a volunteer with River Green Run who’s husband and two teenage sons ran the 5K together. “River Green is filled with generous residents and without those volunteers the run would have limped, not sprinted, along. We are grateful and amazed at the way everyone and everything fell into place.”

Volunteers within the community did everything from pre-race registration, awareness building, and sponsor seeking to posting tents, tables, and signs and filling goodie bags to assisting runners during the race by handing out water, directing traffic, timing the finishers, and, of course, cheering. They also were responsible for post-race clean up. Several volunteers donated the use of their golf carts for the day of the race to drive participants from the parking lot to the starting line. A couple of volunteers even had to run the race before it began to ensure the mileage was accurate and the terrain was safe. “It’s all we did for 18 days,” said Laura Baker, one of the lead volunteers for the race. When asked why Brown volunteered her time, “The Cherokee Family Violence Center is there to help women and children who have had to live with unthinkable and heartbreaking conditions. That was all I needed to know.”

Seeing the hundreds of participants wake up early on a Saturday morning to honor Kim was a testament of our community spirit. “There is something about people helping each other that will always extend beyond words. You can’t put a price tag on that, but you could feel it at the run,” said Brown.

“The kids were my best memory. They had so much fun doing that Fun Run. It was really a nice thing seeing a community come together,” said Baker. “Everyone at the Fun Run was rooting those kids on,” continued Brown. “It doesn’t matter how old you are, we can all help in some way.”