Racing to rebuild lives

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ROCHESTER, New York — Sporting an orange safety vest over his customary clerical collar, the Rev. Tedd Pullano was out before sunrise on Saturday, directing traffic in front of Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York.

Only one thing could have gotten the church’s associate pastor for Outreach up that early.

His — and the congregation’s — commitment to meeting the immediate needs of their neighbors regularly experiencing hunger or food insecurity in the Rochester community.

“We’re spending four times more on hunger programs than we did three years ago,” said Pullano, “At this church alone, we’re spending $60,000 a year, which is as much as some small churches’ entire budget. We are also seeing record numbers at our food cupboard, and a least a third of them are working people.”

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It was just this critical need coupled with the church’s call to feed the hungry — most recently as part of the Matthew 25 movement — that led the congregation to launch the Wegmans East Avenue Grocery Run, now named for its largest financial sponsor.

Founded and organized by Third Presbyterian, the roots of the event, now in its 15th year, began with a conversation 16 years ago between the Rev. Dr. Roderic “Rod” Frohman, a former associate pastor at Third, and a church member, Kerrie Merz. Along with three other members of the congregation, Ellen Rye, Jenny Hutkowski and Michele Crain, Merz has continued to serve on the oversight team for the race.

“Kerrie was talking with Rod and when he told her that donations to the church’s food cupboard were declining, the church decided to do a fundraiser,” Crain recalled. “That’s when we got a team together to put on a 5K race to raise money to fight hunger.”

No sooner had a group from the church met with Foodlink to establish a relationship with the Rochester-based nonprofit dedicated to ending hunger, than plans for the first event got underway.

“We were told we would lose money,” said Crain. “We were told we might get about 300 participants that first year. Instead, we got 800 and raised $8,000; and the event has only grown since then, with our church community so involved from the very beginning.”

Since then, the Wegmans East Avenue Grocery Run has provided more than $565,000 to address food insecurity in the Rochester area.

“Wegmans has been a sponsor of the event since its inception, but this year has committed to being the title sponsor,” said Merz. “This partnership will provide more resources and funding for smaller pantries in the area and help more families put food on the table.”

This year, more than 1,600 participants and over 100 volunteers turned out on a damp and chilly Saturday morning to raise money for the dozens of food pantries and emergency meal programs as diverse as metropolitan Rochester’s over 1 million residents, including the nation’s largest Deaf and hard-of-hearing population.

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And, for the first time in the history of the annual run, a team representing the Rochester Deaf Kitchen took part in the race. Its free food pantry initiative was launched in partnership with Rochester School for the Deaf and Foodlink only a year ago.

“I got involved in the Rochester Deaf Kitchen because I’m active in the community with people that are food insecure,” said Ken Finton through an American Sign Language interpreter.

When asked whether he was a regular runner, Finton just laughed and looked toward his wife Lynn.

“We’re regular walkers,” he said.

Also heading toward the starting line were teams from several congregations from the Presbytery of Genesee Valley, including — in addition to Third Presbyterian’s Hunger Ministry — groups from Irondequoit Presbyterian Church, First Presbyterian Church of Pittsford and Gates Presbyterian Church.

Tracy Burkovich, Gates’s treasurer, said that the congregation, which has been participating in the annual event for 10 years, usually sends anywhere between five and 20 people to represent the congregation.

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“Even though we have our own backpack lunch program for elementary schoolers in our district, we always send a group knowing that we will receive a percentage of the funds to help continue our church’s food ministry programs,” Burkovich said.

All of the race’s proceeds go to local food pantries and hot meal programs in the Rochester area. Thanks to its generous sponsors, donors and volunteers, last year’s Grocery Run raised more than $66,500.

“New York is one of the top 10 states for child poverty in the country, and Rochester is one of the high poverty cities within the state,” said the Rev. Dr. John L. Odom, executive presbyter for the Presbytery of Genesee Valley, who chose to run the 5K course. Distances for the race included 1K, 5K, 10K and the "Boogie for Broccoli" Children's Fun Run, with all events inside the city limits.

“I’m grateful to our siblings at Third Presbyterian for their 15-year organization of this event,” Odom said.

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After the exhausted but exhilarated runners and walkers finished their course, an array of bottled water, hot coffee, local apples picked by Third Presbyterian’s youth group and other food and beverages donated by a host of post-race party food sponsors awaited them under a large tent.

“When Java’s Café [one of the sponsors] heard our numbers were up and we needed more coffee, they brought more coffee,” said Jenny Bay, a member of Third Presbyterian who served as post-race party director. “We’re a community and we help each other.”

As people dispersed, cups drained and apple cores were tossed into compost bins, participants slowly made their way to their cars, already planning for next year’s event.

“It’s important to have our whole team on it for 15 years,” Crain said, looking toward the church. “It’s a blessing to all of us.”