At least some good is coming out of this tragedy:
Hundreds honor victim with 5K race
By Misty Alli
Media Credit: Elizabeth Nihiser
A group of runners cross the finish line in Saturday´s Christine Wilson Memorial 5K Run/Walk in Dublin.
The Christine Wilson Memorial 5K Run/Walk was held Saturday evening in Dublin to honor of one of the five students that perished in the April 13 fire near the Ohio State campus.
More than 800 runners and walkers physically participated in the event, while another 100 gave financial contributions.
The walk began at 7 p.m in front of Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar on Perimeter Drive in Dublin.
Wilson's father, Tim Wilson, established the run/walk in order to raise money that will help set up an annual scholarship fund in his daughter's name. The scholarship will be awarded to a student attending Bishop Watterson High School.
"Christine loved Bishop Watterson and thought it was the best school around," Wilson said.
His daughter once made the comment that no matter where she lived in the future, she would move back to Columbus so that her children would be able to attend Bishop Watterson.
Raising money was not the only purpose of the memorial run/walk.
Wilson said the event was the perfect way to celebrate his daughter's life, simply because it will forever keep her memory alive and it was connected to something she truly believed in.
"Christine loved track, so it seemed appropriate to use as a fundraiser for her scholarship," said Wilson.
The outcome of the event was not quite what Wilson expected.
"With an event like this, we expected to get roughly 250 to 300 participants," he said. "With that amount, we would have been satisfied."
Wilson said more participants signed up as the event drew nearer.
"By Thursday, we had close to 400 people who had already pre-registered. We were told that with an event like this to occur, we could expect roughly another 150 people to attend the day of the race," he said.
Try another 500 people.
"The outcome was phenomenal," he said. "We raised three times the amount of money we originally expected to raise."
Most of the attendees were students; however, a good number of participants were parents or adults.
"I'd say we had about two-thirds students and one-third adults." Wilson said. "We had people everywhere from OSU, Ohio University, St. Brendan's and Bishop Watterson."
Eugene Greenfield, a resident of Columbus, said he attended the memorial run/walk simply because he could relate to the pain of the victim's family.
"I had a relative who was killed in a fire a few years back. I didn't know any of the victims who died on April 13, but I can relate and so I thought it would be interesting to attend the event."
Greenfield said he was unable to contribute financially this time around, but hopes that he will be able to contribute next year.
Anthony Pagan, a senior in criminology, accompanied Greenfield to the event.
"It was really cool, because my parents came down for the weekend," he said. "I made them go to this event just because it hit so close to home for me. I didn't know any of the victims, but, I mean, two of them went to OSU. This has an impact on the whole campus."
Wilson said he plans for the memorial run/walk to fall on the second Saturday in May of 2004.
This date is very special for Wilson and his family because it would have been Christine's 21st birthday.
|