For 15 years now, our community has come together to support educators, students and schools in the best way possible, in the wonderful celebration that is the Park City Education Foundation’s Running with Ed!
May 18 was a picture-perfect day. Temperatures in the 60s, costumes, joyous smiles, huge hugs, camaraderie and memories made. Even a little running thrown in. Thanks to the support of our community, the 15th annual Running with Ed relay race was a success in every way for the Park City Education Foundation: 1,000 runners, 125 volunteers, supportive sponsors and countless donors helped us reach our fundraising goal of $325,000 — and then go past it!
The school PTO groups put on six amazing exchanges, no small feat at the end of a school year when volunteers are hard to find and a full slate of sports and activities are competing for everyone’s time and interest. The Beau Collective added their brand of high vibes and “sweatebration” to the Utah Olympic Park exchange. The finish party celebration was epic, with awesome food, beverages, and giveaways thanks to generous sponsors like Park City Brewing and Westgate Park City.
You might know that Vail Resorts Epic Promise is one of the presenting sponsors of Running with Ed, generously providing financial and in-kind support. But you might not know that every year $10,000 of it goes to the school PTOs through Running with Ed’s Park City Mountain participation grants.
The entire race was filled with families juggling running, volunteering, fundraising, darting to soccer, lacrosse, music competitions and prepping for prom. They do it to all to support our fiercely dedicated educators who show up for our students, no matter what. Every single.day!
There were over 200 Park City School District teachers running for free thanks to the Excellent Educator program, funded by the Doilney and Louis families. We’ve had many of them tell us this is their favorite day of the entire school year. And we waived the registration fee for over 150 students, thanks to OK3Air and community donors. We loved seeing a delightful first-grader win the top student fundraising prize — a party at Woodward — by collecting, cleaning and then selling used golf balls to raise money!
The foundation is delighted to beat the Running with Ed fundraising goal. But the event is about so much more than money. It’s a chance for people to come together to honor and celebrate our students, teachers and staff in a day filled with joy and happiness. And that is a goal we wish we could meet every day of the year.
Allison Zarkos
Park City Education Foundation Board member and Running with Ed committee member