UND Alpha Tau Omega organizes a charity walk/run

Tomorrow individuals will run or walk five kilometers in an effort to better the lives of North Dakota flood victims.

The run/walk, organized by the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, will donate proceeds raised from the event to the local Red Cross chapter to benefit those affected by this year’s severe flooding.

After a little research, the chapter decided a 5k run/walk event would be their philanthropic contribution to the university community.

“We wanted to do something that would help locally,” said Knueppel.

The event will take place tomorrow at Sertoma Park, Grand Forks from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Participants can register the day of the event or online at WePay.

The $10 fee participation fee can be paid online or prior to the race’s start.

Free t-shirts will be given to the first 50 racers said Knueppel. He said the shirts will be black and emblazed with the Red Cross logo.

If you don’t want to run, Knueppel said non-racers can also donate money online or the day of the race.

The race’s course will follow the park paths and will be contained within the park area.

Following the race, Knueppel said there will be a get-together complete with food and drinks at Ray Richards Golf Course.

All money raised will be given to the Minn-Kota Chapter of the Red Cross.

The funds raised for the Red Cross will be used to provide emergency assistance as part of the organization’s disaster services. Examples of this assistance include establishing emergency shelter for those displaced by flooding and providing food, emotional support and basic health needs to disaster victims. 

A new tradition 

The run will be the first in the fraternity’s history. Organizers hope to see at least 50 people show up for the event, and about 15 volunteers from Alpha Tau Omega will be on hand to facilitate the event said Knueppel.

This year’s event was intended to be a run and a blood drive, but equipment was unavailable to complete the blood drive portion.

As for next year, he said he hopes to see this event become a fraternity tradition.

“We want to work toward local sponsors for next year,” he said. The group did approach Hugo’s but Knueppel said the application process was larger than what their timeframe allowed.

“We’ll see how it goes this year,” he said. “If 2,000 people show up, well that’s great!”

Online 

If you want to register for the run/walk, visit the event’s Facebook page for more details. For those who want to donate money to the cause, the link can be found on their Facebook and Twitter pages. For more information about the Minn-Kota Red Cross chapter visit their website.