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OBSERVER Photo by Tim Latshaw
Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly stands with St.
Joseph physical education teacher Mary Peglowski,
Principal Vincent George and this year's top 10 pledge
raisers from the "Laps for Life" program benefitting
the Hunter's Hope Foundation. St. Joseph has raised
the most pledge money of any school in the region for
the fifth year in a row.
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5/22/2006 - GOWANDA — St.
Joseph School has been going around in circles for years, but
that's certainly not a bad thing: the school's “Laps for Life”
run raised more money than other regional schools for the fifth
year in a row and earned them another visit from hall of fame
quarterback Jim Kelly.
Students at St. Joseph raised $4,265 this year for the Hunter's
Hope Foundation through “Laps for Life,” garnering pledges from
the surrounding community to run as many laps as they can. There
was also more running than ever, as 103 students completed a
cumulative total of 4,265 laps, the most ever run for the event
at the school so far.
“We had some awesome running done,” physical education teacher
Mary Peglowski told the students. “You run more and more laps,
and if I ever had to run as many laps as you do, I'd be beat.”
Every student who ran laps was given a certificate by Kelly,
often accompanied by a playful mussing of the hair or a hug that
lifted the student off the ground. Each certificate recorded the
number of laps a student had run every year and Kelly encouraged
each child to set goals to surpass their totals next year.
Several students were highlighted for running the most laps or
raising the most pledge money. The top five runners were:
Danielle Steffan (82 laps), Katie Stang (80 laps), Anthony
Rebmann (80 laps), Alex Fox (76 laps) and Meghan Giles (73
laps).
The top five pledge raisers were: Casey Peglowski ($233), Sarah
Miller ($224), Alex Fox ($219), Robert Russell ($180) and Erin
Tyler ($134).
Although Kelly's son Hunter lost his battle with the
debilitating Krabbe Disease last August, Kelly told the students
that great advances have been made toward curing children who
are born with it.
“There are kids who had the same disease my little buddy Hunter
had that are now walking, talking and smiling,” he said.
“They're not quite 100 percent yet — we're hoping to get to that
point—but now they have a quality of life.”
Kelly thanked the students for being part of a team of
volunteers through which awareness and action against Krabbe
Disease has become stronger.
“It's because of people like you who are willing to do something
to make a difference that we are making the research we're doing
that is helping these boys and girls,” he said.
“Laps for Life” is an event that the students at St. Joseph look
forward to months in advance.
“It's the first day of school and they ask, 'When do we run
laps?'” Principal Vincent George said.
However, the joy of running is far outweighed by the impact the
students wish to make for others. In addition to “Laps for
Life,” another program called “Hugs from Heaven” was created at
the school by Peglowski in response to students' desires to
continue making a difference the way Hunter had. This program
has given students additional opportunities to reach out to
others as close as the local nursing home or as far as the
victims of Hurricane Katrina.
“They understand what it's about,” Kelly said. “Some places
would just go through the motions, but they really put their
hearts into it. Mary Peglowski deserves all the credit for
teaching the students that.”
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