NC Children’s Promise and The Select Group Rock Together in Raleigh
Look at the photos of all the runners who participated in the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon and 5K race on April 1st, and you may not notice it at first. Look more closely, and you’ll suddenly realize that the participants were missing one important piece of the runner’s gear: ear buds and an iPod!
Among those budless runners were our own Denina Vinson-White (Development Services and Stewardship Manager), Kelly Partner (Special Events Coordinator) and Sherry Buckles (Director of Major Gifts), all from the NC Children’s Promise, who had accepted an invitation to join a team being assembled by The Select Group, a Raleigh recruiting firm.
It’s easy for runners to leave their iPods at home for this event, because the Raleigh Rocks race furnishes live entertainment all along the course. Runners push themselves to reach the next aid station not just for water and Gatorade, but to drink in the rousing energy generated by live bands stationed there. This year’s race featured music from seven of them scattered along the 13-mile course.
Joining together to run this particular musical race seemed like a logical extension of the partnership that already exists between The Select Group and NC Children’s Promise. The Select Group has worked for several years through Children’s Promise to make the experience of children in the NC Children’s Hospital more pleasant by improving their access to a variety of musical systems and devices, such as iPods and docking stations, iTunes gift cards and a music library.
This year the Select Group team raised more than $2600 to support the Jason Clark Teen Activity Room at the Children’s Hospital.
“We love them,” said Buckles. “We were thrilled to run with them this year, and we look forward to growing our partnership throughout the coming year.”
For more information about the NC Children’s Promise, contact Sherry Buckles at 919-966-7228 or sherry_buckles@med.unc.edu.