Neighbor News
2nd Annual East Dedham Jingle Bell Run
Bringing regular running events to East Dedham through the East Dedham Fun Run Series
Saturday December 10th is the conclusion of the first year of The East Dedham Fun Run Series. For the first time ever a timed race will come to the streets and neighborhood of East Dedham. I started this venture last year when I was training for the Boston Marathon. I decided I wanted to give back to my town in some way. I tried running for office because I thought that was the only way I could make a real difference. I have been involved in other things that have nothing to do with politics. I founded the challenger basketball league for special needs children. We will be beginning our 9th season this winter. I've coached CYO Basketball as well. I also started the Fall Coed Softball team in town 7 years ago. So I guess I've filled a need where I could find one and in my own small way I have done some good so I decided to bring running to East Dedham.
We don't have many events that we can call our own. I decided we could bring attention to the neighborhood much like I did having Coed games at Condon Park by having a 2 mile run in East Dedham in December before the holidays and help some folks that could use it. So I chose to raise money for Pathfinders which is a part of the Parks and Recreation Dept and runs all the programs for special needs children like Basketball, Soccer, Baseball and many other programs. We used the proceeds from the raffle we had at the post run party to raise money to cover the cost of one child to play CYO basketball for St. Mary's and we had a toy drive for the Dedham Youth Commission. What also made this a great event is we brought attention to our gracious host, Mother Brook Arts and Community Center as we start and finish the fun runs at Mother Brook and by having events after the runs people can check out the art and get a feel of the great work they do.
We held a second event this past March called the Bunny Hop that raised money for my charity for the Marathon, The Perkins School for the Blind and was very successful and drew Perkins Students and parents to our town and was just a very special day. A friend said to me you should have a series of these runs so the Fun Run Series was born. We held a Zombie Run for Dedham Cross Country and are now back for our 2nd Annual Jingle Bell Run and will conclude our first year. We are helping 2 new Dedham charities this year Mother Brook itself and The O'Brien Scholarship which gives money to an East Dedham student to help with college expenses. We will also once again have our toy drive for the youth commission. Our Town is trying to revitalize East Dedham. Come join us for a fun day, we can use volunteers as well. If you'd like to volunteer or become a sponsor please contact me by email at dfury13@yahoo.com. You can also use the link below to register.
