Students and faculty kick off Rhodython with colored powder and high spirits. Photo by Greg Clark.
The event is intended to become an annual occurrence on campus
College students, adults and children alike burst through a blue and white balloon arch on Sunday to be sprayed with color at the first annual Rhodython 5K run “For The Kids.”
RhodyTHON held its first annual five-kilometer color run to raise money for Hasbro Children’s Hospital. The event occurred on the University of Rhode Island Quad.
RhodyTHON raises money for this specific hospital because it is a partner hospital for with Children’s Miracle Network in Rhode Island, according to the student RhodyTHON Executive Director Nicolette St. Amand. Additionally, all of the colleges that take part in Children’s Miracle Network in Rhode Island raise their money for Hasboro, according to St. Amand.
“It just allows the hospital to kind of have extra auxiliary funds that they can do for things outside of the direct medical field,” said St. Amand.
St. Amand said that the money raised for auxiliary funding for the hospital goes towards things that donors do not give money for.
The money that RhodyTHON has raised goes to families directly in case they need anything. The first year that RhodyTHON fundraised, the money raised went to recreating the family room at Hasbro.
This year, RhodyTHON decided to do a color-run event to fundraise. The color run was inspired by this year’s Hasbro Champion Child for Rhode Island, Juliet.
“Her main thing that she was looking forward to when she was healthy was to be able to run, she’s really athletic,” St. Amand explained, “That’s something she did before diagnosis, so when we heard that we thought it would be a good idea to kind of do a run for her.”
Juliet is a 12-year-old that was diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever in 2015, according to Children’s Miracle Network.
Hasbro chooses their “Champion Child” based on the child’s family involvement at the hospital and the health of the child. These children make appearances at different public events, so the hospital looks for children whose health won’t be negatively affected by going to such events, according to St. Amand.
RhodyTHON plans to make this event an annual festivity thanks to the inspiration from this year’s Champion Child, according to St. Amand.
People were drawn to the fundraising event because of the popular “color-run” aspect, which is currently a popular run theme, according to St. Amand.
“The colors and after pictures” were what drew Shannon Markey, a sophomore accounting major, to the event. Victoria Wright, a sophomore animal science major, said that the event being on campus attracted her to it.
Tickets to participate in the event cost $15 for URI students and $30 for general community members, according to St. Amand. Participants received a white t-shirt to run in at the event as well as other RhodyTHON merchandise.
Those not participating in the event but in attendance to support participating friends and family were able to purchase paint packets for $2 each to throw at those running or walking the 5K.
The event also had a DJ for music and a dance routine by URI Club Dance before the start of the race.
Water was offered for participants in the race at the one-mile mark, two-mile mark and at the end of the race, according to RhodyTHON Chief of Internal Operations, Shelley Oliveira-Barbosa.
RhodyTHON’s festivities for the academic year are far from over, as the third annual dance marathon For The Kids will be held March 21, 2020. This year, the marathon will last 10 hours. This is a two-hour increase the previous two RhodyTHONs.
For those interested in participating, registration week for the RhodyTHON dance marathon will be Oct. 21 to Oct. 24.