Thousands 'Scamper' For Packard Children's Hospital Stanford

PALO ALTO, CA — More than 3,000 runners of all ages turned out Sunday for the 8th annual Summer Scamper benefiting Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford. The event included 5k and 10k races, a kids' fun run for little ones ages 3 through 10, and a family festival with awards, music and refreshments from favorite Palo Alto eateries. More than 165 teams participated in this year’s Scamper, in total raising more than $500,000 all in support of children and expectant mothers receiving care at Packard Children's Hospital.

Special guests included some of the Bay Area’s favorite mascots: Sourdough Sam of the 49ers, Sharkie of the San Jose Sharks, “Q” from the San Jose Earthquakes, and Gigante of the San Jose Giants minor league baseball team.

Summer Scamper’s “patient heroes” — patients who have received care at the hospital for conditions including cancer, Autism, cystic fibrosis and organ transplant surgeries — helped to kick off each race, and cheered runners on throughout the course in and around the Stanford University campus.

More information about this year’s patient heroes is available online at: Summerscamper.org/patient-heroes.

In total, the community of Summer Scamper participants have helped raise more than $3 million for children’s health since the event’s inception in 2011, said Kate DeTrempe, spokeswoman for the hospital.

Text and photos courtesy Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford; Photos credit: Douglas Peck