25 August, 2015
On Sunday September 27th Christian’s Hot Jamaican Chili Pepper Crusaders (CHJCPC) will once again don their distinctive bright orange shirts, lace up their sneakers, slap on their smiles and set out to walk from Hopkinton to Boston along the Marathon route with thousands of others in the Jimmy Fund Walk to raise money, awareness and hope in the fight against cancers of all kinds.
In four years the team of Hopkinton students has raised about $16,000, and they would love your support to get them over the $20,000 mark this year. Last year for the first time, Christian Wheeler, the team’s inspiration and cancer survivor walked the 13.1 mile leg for the first time with the other young walkers; he and his brother Nicholas (11) will again walk the ½ marathon this year with the youngest walkers. The original team members Ben Wheeler, Jack Riley, Jack Brennan, Kevin Sullivan, Ethan Kramer, Samantha Riley, Rebeka Pohl and Julianna Kramer, all now Hopkinton High School students, will walk their 5th annual Jimmy Fund Walk doing the 26.2 mile marathon route.
All along the route, pictures of Jimmy Fund heroes serve as mile markers, very real reminders of the reason so many walk to raise money. Walkers often pause, read the brief stories of the individual pictured, touch the placard perhaps offering a brief prayer before continuing the walk; these personal stories are an urgent reminder of the difficult fight so many must wage to survive. In 2011 and 2012, Christian Wheeler was on the placard at Hopkinton Common; the team is ever grateful that he is now well and walking with them.
When Christian was first diagnosed at 3 years old, his oldest brother Ben’s friends formed the team as a show of support; it served as a way to come together to actively confront a tough life circumstance and really make a difference; they were just 9 years old. Together with their older sisters and friends then 11, they raised over $5,000 and scampered thirteen miles lifting their own spirits as well as those of the other walkers; they were young and full of energy – bright orange clad reminders of what life is meant to be. The team has grown every year; this year there will be about fifteen youngsters with parental support walking. Please look for them along the route and give them a shout of support on walk day, cowbells also welcome. Look for us on facebook as well!
The team would so appreciate your donation to help them reach their fundraising goal for 2015 and put them over $20,000 in total donations over the five years they have worked together raising money. Please visit the team website on the Jimmy Fund Walk 2015 web page here. or mail a check made payable to the Jimmy Fund and send to: Kramer family - Jimmy Fund Walk, 39 North Street, Hopkinton, MA 01748; all donations are tax deductible. Please make online donations as general team donations to enable the team to ensure that all individual walkers meet their fundraising minimum goal.
You Can Donate here.
