On Sunday Nov 24th, the Detroit Steps Project held its first annual Rise & Run event to support the greening and art renovation for the Steps — Thanks to the enthusiastic and effective organizing work of project lead Rosaura Valle. For more information about the Detroit Steps Project, visit this overview page.
Rise & Run for the Detroit Steps
By Rosaura Valle, Detroit Steps Project Lead
The sun shined on a mild Sunday morning of November as volunteers were actively setting up for the 1st Annual RISE & RUN Sunnyside Step-a-thon.
The fundraising event, scheduled from 10 to noon, included a Step-a-thon through the Lower and Upper Detroit Steps and a raffle. At 10:30 a.m. Stephen Martinpinto, SNA President, gave the GO to the kids race: about 10 kids (5-12 years old) eagerly ran up and down the Lower Steps for the required 15 minutes. Then all participants walked up the Lower Steps, crossed Monterey Blvd and gathered at the bottom of the Upper Steps where 20 adults (13 and up), energized by an awesome playlist, attempted the Upper Steps run, staggered in 3 batches to ensure safety. Two dogs attended the event and one participated to the race!
Volunteers in yellow safety vests guarded Monterey crossing, and stood at each end of the steps for the duration of the race, to mark on the participant arm or hand the number of flights accomplished, and to cheer during the effort.
Race participants and raffle winners, kids and adults alike, were able to choose among the dozen of prizes that many of the volunteers and residents had generously offered, many of which arrived unannounced on the day of. The raffle was the big winner of the fundraiser, which has resulted in about $600, although a final count including online donations will soon be provided.
It was nice on Friendsgiving Day to see the community coming together, not only to support the improvement effort on the Detroit Steps, but also to meet and get to know each other just for the fun.
Many thanks to Stephen, Amy, Bart, Daryl, Flora, Joy, Pam, Perle, Stacie, Suna, Susan, Suzanne and all others for planning, emceeing, dealing with online and onsite registration, raffle, prizes, photos and, last but not least, sweeping the steps prior to the event to ensure everyone’s safety! Thanks to SNA for supporting the event, Trader Joe’s for donating energy bars, and thanks to all for showing their support and community spirit!
Let’s make the Step-a-thon an annual fundraiser to support the Detroit Steps and all other SNA projects for the years to come!
Sunnyside Neighborhood Association 