The first race Race for Grace was held on Saturday August 1st to honor Grace Nelson who was diagnosed with sarcoma cancer in January 2009. Almost 400 ran and walked under bright skys at East Valley High School in a 1K or 5K walk/run to honor Grace and support Rein in Sarcoma.
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Before the race a symbolic check of $23,000 was presented to Pete and Sue Wyckoff which soon rose to total donations of over $30,000!
The Race for Grace was organized by Aubree Tsurusaki with help from her mom, Karen and support from Grace and her family! Aubree is 14 years old and is the creator and editor of the
Race for Grace website. When her friend Grace Nelson was diagnosed with Rhabdomyosarcoma in January 2009, Aubree and Karen wanted to do something special for Grace to spread the word and help find a cure for sarcoma cancer.
They organized a race in Grace's honor from which all donations and proceeds are being sent to the Rein in Sarcoma Foundation in order to help find a cure and assist all of those who are battling with this disease. Aubree and Karen hope that this will make a big difference and touch many peoples’ lives.
The Race for Grace received strong support from
Starkey, including Starkey employee giving which came from Starkey offices in five countries. Starkey also supplied 1,000 bottles of Race for Grace water for the walkers and runners.
During the opening ceremony the Nelson Family also announced the creation the Race for Grace Tribute Fund of Rein in Sarcoma. All donations that have or will be given to Race for Grace will be fully credited to Rein in Sarcoma's newest Tribute Fund.
To view a slideshow of the 2009 Race for Grace,
Click here.
To read the
Sun Current newspaper article (8/13/09) on the event,
click here.
To visit Grace's CareingBridge website,
Click here.
