St. Jude's holds annual jogathon fundraiser

Kids were splashed head to toe in a plethora of colors Friday as St. Jude Thaddeus School held its annual jogathon fundraiser on the campus.

"It's just really fun, it's a schoolwide thing," eighth-grader Mackenzie Kuhn said. "We can just all run and get splashed with color and make fun of each other for how stupid we look."

The tradition, which dates back to the 1980s, is a fundraising event that helps provide teaching supplies and necessities to keep the school running, Director of Development Kathryn Tilleman said.

"I think it's really good for our community itself, kind of bringing everybody together and bringing our parishioners and our corporate sponsors and uniting them with a common goal," Principal Mike Haugen said.

Kids from preschool to eighth grade get jogathon packets and the preschoolers receive only lump sum donations. The kindergarten through eighth-graders can ask for a single pledge or they can ask for a per-lap pledge, Tilleman said.

"On average, I'd say the junior high students run ... close to 30 laps," Tilleman said.

Preschool through second-grade kids run a shorter course to make tallying laps easier for them, Tilleman added.

The jogathon starts in the gravel parking lot between the school and St. Jude Thaddeus Church. The course for third- to eighth-grade students goes around the gym and church and back into the parking lot. Peschool to second-grade runners run around the gym then cut between the gym and the church for each lap.

Teachers and other parent volunteers are positioned at various points throughout the course with buckets of colored powder to throw on the kids as they ran by.

The color powder was introduced three years ago as a way to bring something new to the jogathon, Tilleman said.

"The kids just loved it," she said.

"I think that the jogathon is really fun and it's a good way to raise money for our school," seventh-grader Trayden Riley said. "And it's a good way to get exercise."

The color powder is safe for kids. Tilleman said the color powder is food-grade corn starch that is dyed, and teachers provide safety goggles for the kids to wear.

Students go around town, with an adult, and ask for pledges. Pledge by mails can be used for friends and family that are out of town, Tilleman said. Parishioners to St. Jude Thaddeus can also donate to the fundraiser.

"A lot of kids get to go to mom and dad's work and they have pretty good success with that," she added.

The student goal for this year is $20,000. If the goal is met, the school rents a movie theater for the kids and the school walks down the street to the movie, Tilleman said.

Last year's goal was $20,000 as well and the students raised $26,000 and the overall fundraiser brought in $33,787 for the school.

"I think that's the highest one I've ever seen," Tilleman said, "so it was a pretty exciting year."

There is an extra incentive for the students this year. though. Tilleman said that if the students hit $500 on their pledge sheet they will be entered into a drawing for a Nintendo Switch package or a $250 Visa gift card.

The total for this year had not yet been tallied.