By Mike Schnitzel
"We saw an opportunity to bring the school district and the village together for the good of the Lynbrook Community Coalition," said Cathy Papandrew, a school board trustee and co-director of the race.
Papandrew said that the race is mostly about raising awareness of the LCC in the community. "We want to raise the awareness about the coalition, its mission, and the needs of young people in the community," she said. "It's also about partnership building, showing how much we can achieve by bringing together organizations in the community rather than fragmenting."
According to Tom Lynch, president of the LCC, the money raised during the walk/run will be used to help fund the group's Saturday-night program at the high school, in addition to other projects the coalition has in the works. "We're looking into screening movies at the middle schools, and we have a ski trip for teenagers that right now is in the very early planning stages," said Lynch. "Hopefully [the money raised] will help cover some costs for that, but it's contingent on getting more volunteers involved."
The walk/run was organized by a partnership of the Lynbrook School District, the village and the Community Coalition. Superintendent Dr. Philip Cicero, race co-director, said that the idea had been kicking around for a while, but plans accelerated when the LCC had difficulty funding a Saturday-night program.
"Cathy and I are both runners, and we know that races like this have been successful fund-raisers," said Cicero. "An event like this also brings families together, and we've seen entire families register for this."
According to Cicero, there are 90 entrants so far, and a turnout of 400 to 500 runners is expected. "It's a very typical number for about three weeks out, and there are usually a great deal of people registering in the final days," he said. A half-mile fun run will start half an hour before the race.
Lynch said that the LCC's biggest problem right now is getting volunteers to help run its programs. "We need more parents to get involved, because the volunteers we have right now are stretched a little thin," he said.
In addition to the race, Todd Crandell, the founder and executive director of Racing for Recovery, will speak at the high school and middle schools about the dangers of substance abuse and encourage participation in walk/runs across the nation. Crandell, a former drug addict, became sober in 1993 and started the not-for-profit Racing for Recovery to bring his message to schoolchildren nationwide.
"This is a program dedicated to preventing substance abuse in kids and providing healthy alternatives," said Crandell, who will take part in the race. He will also screen "Addict," a documentary about his spiral into drug addiction and his battle to reclaim his life, at an LCC program to be held in the high school auditorium after the walk. More information on the Fly with the Owls Walk/Run can be found at www.flywiththeowls.com
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