In a week, many Boston College students will run the sixth annual Chilly Half-Marathon in Newton to benefit the Campus School. Prior to the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon, students would run as bandit runners in the Boston Marathon to benefit the Campus School. Since the attack, bandit runners have not been allowed to run, and the Campus School has lost a major fundraising opportunity. Originally raising over $60,000 per year, the Campus School now receives a meager $13,000 in comparison. The half-marathon is an opportunity to try to reclaim some of that lost capital—about 300 people participated in running the Boston Marathon for the Campus School, and that number has drastically declined, with 18 people participating in the last informal marathon.
When the Boston Athletic Association originally began cracking down on the bandit runners, the Campus School Volunteers organized an informal marathon the week before the official Boston Marathon for runners to participate in. That marathon, however, was not as popular as the original opportunity to run in the Boston Marathon. Volunteers hope that this will make it possible to make up for much of the lost funding from the decline in participants.
The Campus School needs this funding. Backing its effort with an established half-marathon is a smart move—it adds credibility and makes it easier to organize. In time, it could become as established a fundraising tradition as the Boston Marathon bandit run was.
Campus School volunteers devote time to creating a well-managed program that tangibly helps so many lives. To do this, they need more money, in addition to more volunteers. Running the half-marathon to benefit the School is another way to support the efforts of these undergraduates, aside from physically volunteering in the classroom. Students do not need to actively volunteer in the classroom to play a role in the success of the school, but they can help by fundraising to help the school reach its goal of about $60,000 per year.
This new initiative should help the Campus School achieve fundraising goals, but it will take the support of the student body for the program to reach the level of success that the Boston Marathon bandit runners had.
Featured Image by Margaret LaPre / Heights Staff
