Promotional poster by Keirah Allar.

Fundraisers are often seen as a great way to raise money for different organizations. For senior Keirah Allar, she decided to host a ‘Run for DECA’ fundraiser in order to raise money as a part of her Marketing 3-4 project. To complete this project, students had to host some type of event, do an essay, or anything that involved pages of paperwork.  

 This fundraiser was held on Sunday, Nov. 5 at 9a.m. and took place at Walnut Grove Park. The run was a 5K and all students were welcomed to join. Funds were raised by the $3 entry fee per runner.  

For Allar, this event meant more than just a fundraising project for a class.  

“I didn’t grow up here, so I don’t know any local communities to fundraise for, so I figured I could do something for DECA,” Allar said. “I have a history with running, a long complicated history with running, but it’s something that I’m really passionate about, so I figured that I could do a little ‘Run for Deca’.” 

Allar’s passion for running began before she moved to America.  

“It started in the sixth grade when I started training in Japan with a bunch of high schoolers,” Allar said. “I ran for a while and got really good, but around sophomore year, I had a chronic back issue that developed. It’s in my back and I’m not allowed to run anymore since it’s such a big aggravator.” 

Her back issue was a major setback for Allar.  

 “In a sense, it feels like running was taken away from me,” Allar said. “I was super passionate about it young and then one day, poof, all gone. It was super hard to deal with, but I’m glad I’m able to make and host runs for people who are my age that haven’t had their passion taken away.”  

Given her history with running, Allar was able to have fun while hosting the run.  

“Right at the start, we didn’t have many people show up, but it was all kids that I knew so it was super lighthearted, a super fun environment, and I had music and everything,” Allar said. “When we very first started it, we had our music super loud, everyone was jittery and super excited. It was really fun to get to the starting line and start them off.” 

Another highlight for Allar was one specific runner who joined the race.  

“There was a dog that raced. Ms. Logeman heard about me hosting this 5K, and she said that she was going to bring all of her family,” Allar said. “She also brought her dog and they walked the course and at the end, I gave the dog a little medal that says ‘winner’. It was so cute.” 

Not only was the dog a winner, but so were the rest of the participants.  

“I put medals on every single person that ran the race,” Allar said.  

Ultimately, in order to host this race, Allar had to go through months of work.  

“First off, I had to get permission from the Walnut Grove Park which took me like four weeks because she was on leave originally,” Allar said. “Then, I had to sign a permit and get it sent to me to host the event after I got an arranged time and date. Then, I got a course map of the old cross-country course, so we have a trail to run on. Then, I sent out an email to every sports teachers name I could get telling them ‘here are some posters for a 5K, come make your guys come out and run, stretch your legs, and stay in shape on an off-season’. Then, I made digital ads and hung them up around the school and right before that, I had to create a survey for hosts and volunteers. I had to send the surveys to things like NHS and DECA to get volunteers to come. In the morning, I got there an hour early, we set up water, we set up food, we set up the start line, we set up a picture thing, we signed everybody in, got payments, and then we started it off.” 

In, the end, Allar was able to raise money while enjoying the process as well as the actual event.  

“Overall, we raised $34 for DECA which is enough to pay for donuts at one of their events which is kind of cool,” Allar said. “I’m pretty happy with it, it was a fun time.”