Owl Run 2008 Thanks!

Once again, a superb group of volunteers helped make the Owl Run the highlight of the middle school cross country season, and a unique event that fosters interaction and mutual respect between "typical" youngsters and their developmentally challenged peers at Everhart.

Gulf Winds Track Club

The Gulf Winds Track Club is a long-time "Partner in Excellence" with Everhart, and once again lent their equipment as well as a lot of very skilled manpower to the cause. Ray Hanlon and Bill Lott were, as always, the volunteer lynchpins of the event. They were on site before dawn to put together the renowned "Arc de balloons" finish line, and to artistically deploy every stanchion and traffic cone in the GWTC arsenal.

	The Gulf Winds Track Club's "Arc de balloons" and Pennant.
PTO Volunteers set-up and ran the bake sale.	FSU Volunteers handling traffic control.	Volunteers signing-in.

Everhart PTO

The Gretchen Everhart PTO once again did a super job, spearheading the event from the school's end. Everhart parent and GWTC member Terry Massa reprised her role as Assistant Race Director.  Teresa Gay and husband, Joe, handled all t-shirt duties, from designing and bidding them out, to ordering and picking them up, transporting, organizing, labeling, and dispersing them at the race site.  Clyde Benedix supervised traffic/parking control, and doubled as race photographer.  Deborah Taube and Linda Ray headed up the bake sale, and helped coordinate the other parent volunteers. These included Angela Hendry, Donna Gabordi, So Young Yi, Rosalyn Deckerhoff (whose son, Tanner, competed for the Raa boys' team) Julie Delmonego, and Beverly Benedix.  There were also many Everhart parents who were unable to attend the event in person, but made generous donations of baked goods and beverages for the bake sale. We thank them all!

Special Thanks

Special thanks to Everhart teachers Brenda Rice, who set up the P.A. and conducted the Everhart chorus members in the national anthem, and to Fran Simmons for her great artwork on the Owl Run signs, traffic and otherwise. Lois Willman did a super job capturing all the action on her new digital recorder. Likewise, kudos to Ricky Bell and Glenda Culbreth, of LCS Student Activities, for their faithful and generous support year after year.
 

Epilogue

Well, the 2008 Owl Run is history. The balloons have all been popped, and the flags have been taken down and packed away. The buses have carried the students back to their respective schools and the Sno-Cone man has packed up and left. The runners' performances are in the books. Once again, all is quiet on the athletic field behind Everhart School.

But early this evening, just after finishing this write-up in my school portable classroom, I leaned back and closed my tired eyes for just a minute.  When I opened them (or were they still closed?), I was staring out the window, and thought I saw some movement in the far corner of the "Owl Run" field.  I couldn't be sure, but there seemed to be two forms moving along through the twilight.  And as I squinted to see what was going on, I was able to make out two silhouettes, jogging easily in the darkening shadows.  I couldn't see their faces, but their running strides, unique to every individual, seemed familiar.  A few seconds went by as I tried to match those running styles with the names they belonged to, and then it came to me.  I was gazing at the forms of Jere Moore and "Coach" Mike Schneider, as they slowly disappeared into the oncoming darkness of the crisp autumn evening. Good night, gentlemen.

Bill McGuire

Page updated: 10/28/2008