Gimli students battle high heat to raise $400 for Interlake youth programs

Under punishingly high temperatures, students at Gimli High School and Dr. George Johnson Middle School took to the streets of Gimli last Friday to raise money for Interlake youth programs. 

Gimli High School’s student council organized its second annual 5-kilometre fundraising run, and ended up raising $400 for Hailey’s Way, a charity that provides Interlake youth with programs such as sports, music, arts and education.

Student council members spent over a month organizing the event, planning the route, working with the municipality to have some streets temporarily blocked for the duration of the run and getting volunteers to help out. 

It was a collaborative effort, with GHS students in grades 7-12 pitching in to help with the event, staffing water stations, creating signage and setting up stations.

Before the run got underway, student council president Freyja Robak said they had registered lots of people and that more might possibly join when the run started.

“We had about 60 people register for the run, and I think we have around 15 students or so from Dr. George Johnson Middle School, so the total right now is somewhere around 70-75 people,” said Robak as volunteers were busy setting up in the parking lot at the high school an hour before the run. “Unfortunately, the elementary school wasn’t able to join us.”

Many teaching staff and students came out to cheer the participants as they took their place at the starting line.

It was edging up to 29 degrees Celsius when the run started at 11:15 a.m., and students really felt the heat along the route, which had several water stations staffed by GHS student volunteers. 

Some participants opted to walk. The students were joined by other participants such as a teacher.

Participants were treated to watermelon and water at the finish line.