Community to participate in school fund-raiser

Students, teachers, parents and members of the community will meet on Franklin Street on Saturday to participate in the eighth annual Walk for Education to raise money for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

Runners will join the event for the first time in a 5K race starting at 1 p.m. at McCorkle Place.

The walk will begin at the same place at 3 p.m. and end at the Lincoln Center on Merritt Mill Road.

"We're hoping for about 100 runners," said Mary Beth Ludlow, a coordinator of the event. "This is our first year (with the 5K), so we're learning as we go."

The walk is organized by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation. Since the first event in 1997, the foundation has raised about $100,000 annually through fund-raisers at each school and donations made by about 90 participating local businesses, Ludlow said.

A carnival at Lincoln Center after the walk will feature games, a moon bounce, a climbing wall and a raffle for prizes from local businesses.

"What's fun about it is, for this event, all the booths are run by school groups like PTAs, and they keep all the money they make, and that keeps our expenses down as well," said Nancy Zeman, chairwoman of the walk.

With the addition of the 5K run, the foundation's goal is to top last year's total of $97,000, said Kim Hoke, spokeswoman for city schools. "The run is an opportunity to involve more secondary and high school students and young adults from the community."

Eighty-five percent of the money raised by each school goes back to the school, and the remainder will help pay for the event, Ludlow said.

"The nice thing about this fund-raiser is that all the income goes right back to the schools," Hoke said. "It's not like other fund-raisers, like kids going out and selling wrapping paper, where the schools get only a small percentage of the money and the rest goes to vendors' overhead fees."

Proceeds from the event will fund various projects in the schools, and each school will determine how the money is spent. In the past, technology upgrades, new books for media centers and staff development have been funded by the walk, Zeman said.

Hoke said Ephesus Elementary School plans to replace playground equipment with the money it raises.

Prizes will be awarded to the school that raises the most money, has the most participants and demonstrates the most creative show of solidarity, Ludlow said.

Individual student and teacher fund-raisers also will receive prizes.

Shuttles will run Saturday from Culbreth and Phillips middle schools starting at 1 p.m. and from Lincoln Center at 4 p.m.

The walk follows the third annual Summit on Equity and Excellence at Smith Middle School from 8 a.m. to noon. Summit participants plan to discuss ways that schools can close the achievement gap, among other topics.

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu