My farming community coming together to honor her.
Excited doesn’t cover it, really.
In 2009, I lost my mother, Rose, to breast cancer. She was 51. The second time around, the cancer took her from us despite the effort into the fight.
Immediately after her death, I knew I had to do something.
My mother was absolutely amazing. She was born in the house and raised in the house I was brought up in. When she was little, it was a working farm, by the time I came around, it was just a whole lot of land to play on…I am not complaining one bit.
This is my mother. See!!!…beautiful.
So, you see…I had to do something.
The Rose Run was born.
I graduated with 63 people in High School, if that tells you anything about the size of the town I come from.
After my mom died, the family went along with my plan to try a 5k run/walk in our hometown. We jumped on board our annual Community Day (which is a fundraiser for the volunteer fire department) and crossed our fingers.
It worked. The race I planned for 125 people actually gained the attention of 315 that year. We raised $10,000 for charity and it hasn’t stopped since. We are now an official non-profit working on our tax exemption. The Rose Run has raised over $50,000, since my moms passing, for breast cancer research, ovarian cancer research and the volunteer fire department in Petersburg, Michigan. (If you could see my right hand held up, I’d show you where it is….if you’re from Michigan, you’d get that probably).
Yes, we all survive.
I will be keeping things updated on BurbankMom….but keep a look out for our travels documented here!
If you want to participate in The Rose Run…never fear, you do not need to drive to Michigan to do so.
The Virtual Run happens wherever you are and in the past 4 years, we’ve had runners in Los Angeles, Wisconsin, Arizona, Alabama, Virginia, Boston, Indiana, Okinawa and Afghanistan.
The Los Angeles Rose Run happens on July 20th in Griffith Park…you can absolutely join in!!!! OR….sign up for the run and do it at your own pace from your own back door. Visit TheRoseRun.com for details!
Have a GREAT summer Burbank! See you in August.
Looking forward to seeing you and your beautiful family here in good old Petersburg soon!
Thanks Carol! We’ll see you soon 🙂