A Superhero 5K and two-mile walk will be held on Saturday, May 4, at 8 a.m., at Perry Farm in Bourbonnais. Cost is $30 for adults and $15 for children under 12 years. Costumes are encouraged. Registration and race information may be found at www.runforjoy.org. Register by April 13 to guarantee a race t-shirt.
Honored kids will be recognized with signs on the course. Submit a name and photo of a child who is on a medical journey at runforjoy.org. In memoriam recognition also is welcomed to honor children lost too soon to illness.
Proceeds from the event benefit Mattea’s Joy, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring care, connection, and community to families with hospitalized children.
“Families are craving connection while they navigate having a hospitalized child.” said Jamie Freedlund, co-founder of Mattea’s Joy. “Our hope is to help them feel less alone during what will likely be one of the most challenging circumstances of their lives”
Mattea’s Joy serves monthly meals for families at the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital. It coordinates care packages to local families who are transferred to Comer from outside hospitals, including Riverside Medical Center, as well as Ascension Saint Mary in Kankakee. The group also provides snack boxes to several Chicagoland and Central Illinois hospitals, the Joy in the Journey podcast, and transformational experiences, such as visits from Mattea’s Princess visits to partner hospitals.
The event is professionally timed by J3 Timing and is being sponsored, in part, by Turn-Key Environmental, Special Waste Disposal, Bourbonnais Township Park District, the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, Geoffrey Johns and Associates, Riverside Community Credit Union, National Bank of St. Anne and Manteno, Still Waters Environmental, and Weber Grill.
Perry Farm grounds are handicapped accessible, and restrooms are available on site. For more information about Mattea’s Joy or this event, visit www.runforjoy.org.