Celebrating 20 Years of Running

Lorraine Triggs

Twenty years! That’s an impressive run for a 5K. Dawn Clark, who proceeded Julie Clemens as director of disability ministries, talked about the beginnings of Run for the STARS (RFTS) in an email interview.

“Back in 2003, the pastoral staff wanted a way to bring in the community to Summerfest [an annual summer event for the church and community],” wrote Dawn. “Mark Ahrenholz, an avid runner and director of administration at the time, and former missions pastor, Bruce Wilson approached me about having the race funds go to the disability ministry.”

“I did think that the community might respond to sending individuals with special needs/disabilities to camp such as Joni and Friends and other Christian camps,” Dawn continued. The staff agreed that this was a great cause for a 5K and Run for the STARS came into existence.

The first year a large committee was pulled together to put on the race, and Dawn represented the disabilities ministry, and the following year she became the ministry staff person and served as the coordinator of Run for the STARS. “I brought the committee together and approached individuals to be the race director, including my husband, Stephen.”

The run’s original purpose was to bring the community to the church to hear the gospel as part of Summerfest, and its secondary purpose was to raise funds for the STARS. “For me, I felt RFTS was a concrete way to show the community that the church honored the lives of people with disabilities. As Christians we are pro-life and that includes more than a stance against abortion. We demonstrated our pro-life stance by supporting the STARS and their families through all their lives. That is one reason I felt so strongly about having the STARS involved strategically in the race.” Daw n related.

The first Run for the STARS was June 14, 2003—the now-familiar second Saturday in June. This year, however, the City of Wheaton asked if RFTS could change its race day. Director of Disability Ministries Julie Clemens took advantage of the run’s anniversary year and chose May 20 for the run. Though the race has moved from its traditional date, Pastor Josh Moody continues the tradition of the senior pastor praying at the beginning of each run.

On that first year, the Dash for the STARS was introduced as Dawn explained so “the STARS who might not be able to run a 5K could participate in the race. I also thought it would be good for the community to meet some of the people that the race was supporting.”

The run has changed through the years, but its commitment to the STARS and their families has remained constant “and I believe the commitment of its volunteers,” Dawn wrote. “College Church member Todd Busteed has been the race announcer from the start—he is absolutely awesome and does a great job of recognizing runners as they cross the line.”

Both Dawn and Julie agree that Run for the STARS couldn’t happen without volunteers, from race director to committee members to STARS and their families who have stuffed runner packets. “I often heard STARS and their families say that they loved volunteering because it gave them a chance to give back to the church for all the church had done for them,” Dawn added.

The race does take place rain or shine, but Dawn vividly remembers one of the early races. “We really wondered whether the race would survive the horrible weather. It just poured, and we jokingly said it was Run for the Ducks! I wondered whether any volunteers would show up much less the runners. I really felt that this was the end of RFTS. Yet, all the volunteers showed up and we had a little over 200 runners (I think more than 300 had registered). We had such camaraderie. I sensed God’s smile and after that RFTS was firmly established.”

For Julie, she remembers those virtual runs during the pandemic. “Those races were hard. The first run in 2020, most people didn’t know how to record a run so they would send in their results. But we have amazing corporate sponsors who continued to give, because they knew the need.”

Based on records for 16 of the 20 runs, Julie calculated that more than 8,500 runners have participated in RFTS. That first year, Dawn recalls there were around 250 runners, and around $10,000 was raised. “Last year (2022),” Julie adds, “There were 495 runners and dashers, and $55,000 was raised.”

Julie also remarked that “we’ve had several runners in their 80s participate, including Marilyn Kitchell, Tim and Joe Klenk and even Pastor Moody’s father. And a grandfather of one of our STARS ran the race last year in his mid-nineties. The youngest runner was five years old.”

Though hard to calculate, Dawn wrote that funds from the run have helped send STARS and their families to camp and church retreats as well as supporting summer music camp and providing job coaching. Hundreds of families have benefitted from race proceeds.

“I received a letter from Joni and Friends recently thanking us for supporting families who attend their family camps,” Julie noted. “Their letter stated that College Church has given to Joni and Friends for 29 years, for a total of nearly $160,000. Not all those years included money from Run for the STARS, but the years that we’ve had the run, we’ve been able to give more to support STARS families.”

From Julie’s perspective, “Run for the STARS is a day where families can come out and support our STARS families in several ways. They can register to run and sign up their kids for the Dash for the STARS. It’s a great time to remind kids that the STARS were created in the image of God like the rest of us, and this is why we show up for them.”

See you at the run on May 20.

The goal for this twentieth anniversary run is 700 runners. If you’re not a runner, register to be one of the 98 volunteers still needed for the 2023 anniversary run, and show up on May 20 and cheer the STARS and runners. Register by April 30 to guarantee your shirt size. Online registration closes on May 18 at noon, but there is walk-in registration/packet pick-up from noon to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday of race week, and walk-in registration on race day as well. And new for this year, an award for the faster pastor.