Schools

Viewfinder: Make-A-Difference Day Walk-A-Thon at Roland Rogers

This year's walk benefits the Stephen Siller Foundation.

About 600 students, parents and teachers spent a chilly Friday morning walking the trails along the and elementary schools, as well as the , to the tune of 11 and a half miles.

The students and teachers were missing class and the parents were donating their time, all in the name of a good cause.

In honor of Roland Rogers held its annual Walk-a-Thon for charity on Friday morning, Oct. 21. This year’s charity was the Stephen Siller Foundation, which holds an annual tunnel-to-tower run to honor an off-duty firefighter who was killed during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

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Siller was in a tunnel en route to a golf outing with his friends after completing the late shift with his New York City Fire Department when he heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center. He grabbed his equipment and raced to the Twin Towers, where he died helping those in need.

The foundation was established in his name to do good by supporting children who have lost a parent, firefighters and military who have been seriously injured or sacrifice their quality of life in the line of duty, according to the foundation’s website.

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Cherry’s daughter is a firefighter, and participated in this year’s run.

This is the first year Roland Rogers held its Walk-a-Thon in honor of the Stephen Siller Foundation, according to Roland Rogers Physical Education Teacher David Cherry.

“They build houses for multiple amputees,” Cherry said. “They really do a lot of charity.”

Roland Rogers has staged walks for Habitat for Humanity and other charity organizations in the past. The charity of choice changes from year-to-year.

Traditionally, kindergarten students at the school walk first, and walk four laps, or one mile. First and second graders walk two miles, third and fourth graders walk three and a half miles and fifth and sixth graders walk five miles.

“The kids are given a letter to take home telling their parents what they’re doing, and they raise money to be donated (at the school’s Veterans Day Assembly on Nov. 8),” Cherry said. “We will be presenting a check to someone from the foundation.”

The letters were sent home a little over a week ago, Cherry said, and although he expected most of the donations to come in as part of the walk, students have until the end of the month to submit donations.

“They were appreciative,” said Cherry, who has been a teacher in the district for 19 years, and at Roland Rogers for the last seven. “They said don’t worry about the amount, we just appreciate the effort.”

Check out Galloway Patch’s photo gallery from Friday’s walk.


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