On August 8 at 8 am, President Ray Gadd of the Vinings Cumberland Rotary Club sent an email blast to start the 2020 VIRTUAL 5K RACE - the 24th year of the Vinings Down Hill 5k - "Run for the Kids.” By the time the virtual race ended at 11:59 pm on August 9, the club raised over $100,000 for children’s charities.

The virtual race drew 343 participants from 18 states and seven countries. Those participants and the club's 21 committee members rose to support our Vinings Cumberland community where needs are exponentially higher this year:

• The foster care facility is reaching out for food – a basic need.
• The Good Samaritan Health Center personally requested basic medical supplies.
• Kids who are dealing with AIDS, whether their own or of a parent, have a level of stress that's unfathomable.
• Many of the boys and girls living among us are at "home" feeling they are no good, don't matter and have no hope. They don't even have ANY in-school days with wonderful teachers and peers who could uplift their spirits and build their self-esteem.
• The Canine Companion charity, supported by the Dog Dash portion of the race, is overwhelmed with training needs.

The success of this race started with Charles Heinz, 24 years ago, Through hard work and constant tweaking of the race, the eventually became a Peachtree Road Race Qualifier and has carried on even after Charles died of cancer on March 3. 

As any good Rotarian knows, it is easy to fill the big shoes of a truly committed Rotarian with a vision. What? Wait a minute. It was NOT easy. Yes, Charles had the race down to a well-oiled machine right down to race day where the Vinings Cumberland Rotary Club started showing up in the dark pre-dawn to set up parking, the course, participant check-in, sponsor tents, T-Shirts, snacks, and a really fun area with a great local DJ getting kids dancing and hoola hooping in the Vining’s Jubilee.

But this year was, well, it was the "somewhat blind" leading a "blind" race committee, who was faced with the pandemic and needed to recruit new members to the committee, decide if the race should be canceled this year, and explaining what a VIRTUAL race is when we had not known that such a thing even existed prior to hearing the name. A great deal of time was spent encouraging others and trying to engage people of all ages to participate in this effort. 

The Pope High School Interact Club helped with hats, tee-shirts and swag, and we reached out to Rotary Youth Exchange and other International students for participation in the run. 

We generated enthusiasm for sponsorships through personal outreach and inspired giving by the challenge of a matching grant which had not only a financial but also a participation goal. As Charles, and any good Rotarians reading this, would humbly say, “We did it for the Kids!”