On Saturday, April 27, Cairn University hosted the Cairn Cares 5K: Helping Mothers Who Choose Life.
This year’s race took place on a windy day under sunny skies. A team of over 25 student and staff volunteers helped make the race an enjoyable experience for the over 80 runners who participated in the event.
The morning’s activities included a traditional 5K, a 1-mile fun run, and a Virtual 5K that allowed runners from anywhere in the world to run and raise money. The traditional 5K was a timed race, and the men’s and women’s cross country teams had a strong showing in the event; five of the six top finishers for the men’s and women’s timed 5Ks were Cairn cross country runners. Student-athletes Greg Snow, Trevor Hickey, and Cullen Henry finished as the top three male runners, and Anna Hamm and Julia Markey were the top two female runners. Rebecca Benjamin, adjunct faculty member in the School of Music, finished third.
The proceeds from the Cairn Cares 5K support the University’s New Horizons Scholarship Fund. New Horizons provides support to new mothers served by ChoiceOne, who chose to give birth, even though their educational and career goals would be interrupted by unplanned pregnancy, delivery, and parenthood. The New Horizons Schol-arship provides recipients with tuition aid, in addition to academic support and a nurturing Christian community, as they seek to renew and/or begin their pursuit of an undergraduate degree.
As Tammy Butler, vice president of philanthropy, explains, “The Cairn Cares 5K gives the community the opportunity to directly partner with crisis pregnancy centers like ChoiceOne and the women they serve. The New Horizons Scholarship Fund will not only change the lives of new mothers but, through the education and support they receive, the lives of future generations to come.”