Rebecca Warriner, the master behind The Buddy Run, poses with her daughter Polly and race participants Cole and Chase Corbin. Photo by Meredith Gilley.

By Meredith Gilley

The T-shirts read “There are Hungry Children in Our Communities. That’s not OK. Do Something.” Well, they did.

On Saturday, September 18, more than 150 people came out to participate in The Buddy Run to support the BackPack Buddies programs of Wake Forest and Rolesville, which provide food for children for the weekend, so they will not go hungry.

The race was a chip-timed 5K (3.1 mile) on a USATF-certified course in Heritage, followed by a family friendly one-mile course. Following the one mile course was the Itty-Bitty Buddy Dash for all athletes age 6 and younger. The race was put together by Turning Miles Into Smiles, the same group that organized the Smile Train Triathlon this past August and uses their physical strengths to help charities that help children.

According to race organizer Rebecca Warriner, each runner the race had meant that they could provide a child with enough food for one weekend Warriner said that the combined efforts between last year and this year’s races have helped to raise over $5,000 for the BackPack Buddies groups, as well as help fill shelves with food donations made through the race.

The overall winner of this year’s run was Dwayne Reece, age 42, whose official time was 18:54.9. Full race results can be found at http://fsseries.com/index.php?action=event&event_id=191.

The BackPack Buddies are local programs that consist of volunteers from a number of different organizations like Rolesville Baptist Church, Wake Forest Presbyterian and Wake Forest Elementary, as well as parents and community members that want to help stop hunger in our schools.

Volunteers collect food, fill backpacks and deliver them to schools each week to be given on Fridays to needy children who have been selected for the program. And though this year’s buddy run has passed, there are still ways you can help.

There are a number of food items that can be purchased and dropped off at donation drop boxes in the Wake Forest/Rolesville area. Monetary donations are also welcome. “If a child is hungry, it’s hard to focus on anything else,” said Jeanette Shaw, a counselor at the Texas school where the original Backpack Buddies program was launched. When students were sent to Shaw’s office for behavior or discipline issues, she would make it a point to ask them if they had eaten breakfast or needed a snack. In many cases, it tuned out that the children were hungry.

Hunger is the same no matter what part of the world you happen to live in, and right now there are hungry children in our area who, without the assistance of the BackPack Buddy program would not have adequate food to eat over the weekend. The Buddy Run did something about it … and you can to.

Suggested items for BackPack Buddies:

• applesauce or fruit cups   • granola, breakfast, and snack bars

• cereal cups  • juice boxes/pouches  • dried fruit

• individual servings of snack foods (goldfish, crackers)

• pasta cups  • chicken or tuna pouches

• peanut butter  • pudding cups

• pop-top pasta cups like spaghetti, ravioli

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