First Broad Street Mile raises money for local organizations
The first annual VCU Broad Street Mile raised money for 73 organizations and charities on Saturday.
Cyrus Nuval
Staff Writer
The first annual VCU Broad Street Mile raised money for 73 organizations and charities on Saturday.
Sixteen charity runs took place from 10:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., with each mile dedicated to a different fundraising group. The series of one mile fundraising races began at 10 a.m. on Broad Street between North Harrison Street and Hermitage Road. After the races, runners participated in a festival on Broad Street with live music and entertainment, food vendors and carnival games.
Kyle Jones, a senior nursing major who ran the Medical Mile, ran to represent the Student Nurses Association.
“I love getting involved in a lot of school stuff,” Jones said. “I also love running, I love charities and I love representing the Student Nurses Association … so why not take the opportunity to do all of that.”
Many students ran miles to represent schools and departments within VCU. Courtney Groves, a senior social work major, said she ran the mile for her department.
“Me and three of my friends represented the School of Social Work at the Freestyle Mile,” she said. “All four of us wore tie-dyes to show that we’re a team … we’re also old friends from high school and we ran cross country back then and we love charity and school spirit, so this was perfect for us.”
Some runners who participated in the Broad Street Mile ran multiple fundraising miles. Zoe Romano, a graduate from the University of Richmond, ran all 16 fundraising runs of the Broad Street Mile.
“I actually ran the Tour-de-France this summer and I thought that it would be a fun idea to run this mile too,” Romano said. “The Tour-de-France was 2,000 miles in 10 weeks.”
The charity runs included the First Responders Mile to support Richmond’s local Fire Department, Police Department and Emergency Medical Services, the Ram Run to support VCU athletics, the Zombie Mile to support human services organizations in Virginia, the Medical Mile to support VCU and local Medical organizations, the VCU Freestyle Mile to support VCU schools and student organizations and others.
