Last Thursday, The Marlins Swim Team gathered at Westfield Memorial Pool for awards night. Finishing out 30 years of undefeated swimming, everyone was ready to celebrate and eat pizza. Kin to the selflessness of the team, it was also an evening to celebrate someone most of the kids had never met.
During the summer months at Franklin Elementary School, Greta Schoenemann swam for Judy Lee on The Marlins. Not to be forgotten, the current team of Marlins held ‘wacky relay’s’ to raise money in her honor for Greta’s Run. Parents, coaches, and the swimmers spanning from 8 & under to 17 years old raced each other in pirate hats, t-shirts, inner-tubes and on the coach’s backs! Two pink buckets, adorned with the Greta’s Run dragonfly and balloons sat at each end of the pool. Not even rain could curtail the Team’s enthusiasm and dollar bills from filling those buckets!
It was an overwhelming feeling of thorough enjoyment and community. One of the ten year olds walked up to me, handing over an envelope of his allowance, “Here, I want to give this to Greta’s Run”. That sense of humanity and care is a sincere and true thread of the team as a whole. A trait forged through years of dedication by head coach Judy Lee and Marlin parents.
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That night, The Marlins Swim Team raised $922! With a final donation from the Schoenemann Family, the Team will be represented as an official ‘Athlete Level’ Sponsor for Greta’s Run! This is a sponsorship whelmed in the spirit of community and sportsmanship. To be cliché - the money was dropped in the bucket, and it all counted!
To learn how you too can sponsor Greta’s Run, register to Run/Walk, Volunteer or Donate, please visit: http://www.westfieldynj.org/community/gretasrun
