Georgia College Miracle (GC Miracle), the college’s largest student-led fundraising organization, hosted a color run last Saturday, its first community event of the new school year.
GC Miracle was established in 2005 as part of a network of schools under the Children’s Miracle Network. A dance marathon is the largest fundraiser they host each year, but the organization hosts smaller events, too, with each raising money for the Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital in Macon.
This past Saturday, GC Miracle debuted its 2022‘23 fundraising efforts with the Miracle Mile, an annual color run held since the organization’s beginning. According to Executive Director Sara Goodelman, the event also offers the chance to connect with the community near the start of a new school year.
“Last year, with the lasting impacts of COVID and such, we didn’t have as much participation during the color run. However, this year our numbers have increased, which is awesome,” said Goodelman. “It truly shows that people are wanting to get involved and since it's our first event of the year, we're really trying to kick it off on a good start.”
The Miracle Mile took place at the GCSU West Campus on the track running alongside the intramural fields. Registration began at 8 a.m. and led into a warm-up stretching session. The Morale Team led the warm-ups and encouraged all participants to have fun and do their best. Shortly after 9:15 a.m., about 300 runners took to the track, where they reached various color stations along their course. Sarah Brown, director of special events, planned the entire event and made sure everything ran smoothly.
“This has been the largest amount of participation we have had since 2018,” said Brown. “I am beyond proud of our runners and so thankful to everyone who made this event possible.”
The Henderson and Seabrook families, connected to the Children’s Hospital, were on hand to support the fundraising event. Their children, A.J and Aubrey Henderson, along with Jacob and Josiah Seabrooks, had a great time throwing colored cornstarch at runners as they streamed past.
“It’s the kids in general that made me passionate about joining GC Miracle and helping all the patients that need our support the most,” said Shaun Bellmer, director of communications. “We are very appreciative to the families who come out and show us that same support when we fundraise. We want our events to show how dedicated we are to the cause and bringing everybody together. And I think we did that with the color run.”
When the run ended, three winners for the male group and three for the female group were awarded medals. For the males, James Carter came in first, Alex Brown was second and Cam McEntyre placed third. For the female group, Shannon Northern was first, Riley Curtis was second and Alanah Harman took third place.
“Congratulations to all of our winners and remember that today all of you ran for these kids in need and have helped someone by participating,” Brown told the appreciative crowd.
Later in the school year, GC Miracle will host its annual dance marathon from noon to midnight April 1, at the GCSU Centennial Center.