Wanted to share with you what a big success the Leprechaun Dash was on March 13th and the good things our 3RRR club did for elementary school kids in our area. First, the Dash is subsidized by 3RRR so there is no cost for elementary school students to run the Leprechaun Dash. Second, between 3RRR and our sponsors Cornerstone Wealth Strategies and the Pasco Kennewick Rotary Club, we provided over $6000 to 9 different elementary schools in our area to be used for PE equipment and programs. Read on to get the details of these cash awards and thank you notes from the schools.
Nine elementary schools were awarded cash from the Leprechaun Dash this year:
| School | # of Finishers | % | $$$ |
| Amon Creek | 283 | 24.4 | 1464 |
| Lewis & Clark | 147 | 12.7 | 762 |
| Orchard | 144 | 12.4 | 744 |
| Calvary | 119 | 10.3 | 618 |
| Desert Sky | 107 | 9.2 | 552 |
| Sagecrest | 107 | 9.2 | 552 |
| Cottonwood | 105 | 9.1 | 546 |
| St. Joseph’s | 74 | 6.8 | 408 |
| Eastgate | 74 | 6.8 | 408 |
Thank You Notes:
Thanks once again for organizing the Leprechaun Dash. Our kids had a great time and are looking forward to participating next year. It was great seeing so many kids participate once again after a 3 year break.
I am upgrading my scooters for PE. The new scooters will be bigger, more stable and easier to maneuver for the kids. They are expensive and I was only able to get 8. The money from the Leprechaun Dash will allow me to complete a class set. Once again, thank you and the members of the 3RRR for the opportunity.
Jay Osborne, Orchard Elementary School
Dear 3RRR members,
Wow, what a fantastic event this weekend! I loved seeing how many schools and students showed up.
We are both humbled and grateful for your donation to our school. We have a few ideas as to where the money will go, but I will also be asking the students who participated if there’s anything PE related they think would be good to have at school.
Ideas that are on our list include: Obstacle course type equipment; Basketball hoop repair; Hula hoops (our kiddos love these and destroy these); Parachute; High quality outdoor basketballs.
Thank you all so very much for your hard work in putting the race together. Thank you for donation to our PE program. Thank you for encouraging students to get outside and be active.
Sincerely,
Kortny Buhrman
Calvary Christian School
I want to thank the 3RRR Club for putting on a great race. This is the first year it has been put on since I moved over to Sage Crest from Amistad and the kids that ran really enjoyed the race. There were many families posting pictures on Facebook of their kids down running. It was a beautiful day and I am looking forward to next year to even get more kids there to participate. I plan to use the money to buy a few items for recess and also some PE equipment to replace old equipment. I may even use some the money for archery items as I have just started teaching that in school also. Thank you again to all the people at the 3RRR Club that go above and beyond to put on a great event.
Paul Malisani, P.E. Teacher, Sage Crest Elementary
I wanted to write a note of thank you to the Three Rivers Road Runners Club for running the Leprechaun Dash. There were a lot of students there from all over the Tri-Cities and it was great to see so many kids being active.
I also wanted to thank the club for the cash awards to the schools. With budgets being lower than they used to, it will go a long way to help buy equipment for our students. We plan on using our award money to buy new indoor balls, ice packs, and some jersey’s.
Again, we thank you for your community involvement and helping local schools.
Jason Woods, Cottonwood Elementary, Physical Education Specialist
Dear 3 Rivers Road Runners, Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity. Our school is new this year and currently a little on the smaller side. We had a terrific turn out for Desert Sky and were able to get 107 of about 400 students to join your fun Leprechaun Dash. I am very excited to use the money we earned to buy some more equipment for our school to use. We plan on purchasing some portable soccer type goals, jump ropes, hula hoops and small cones. If there is still money available, I will most likely get some more footballs or basketballs. The race was fantastic! Our students and families enjoyed the excitement of the race and the beautiful weather that we were able to compete in. Our students liked seeing their times as they crossed the finish line, and the ribbons were a huge hit as well. I think we will be able to increase our attendance next year now that our families know what to expect. Word of mouth will work to our advantage. Thank you for putting on this event and we look forward to participating for several more years. Sincerely, Lori Coleman PE Teacher Desert Sky Elementary
Thanks so much for putting on another great Leprechaun Dash. We are excited at Amon Creek to earn our share of the Pot of Gold and plan to use it to purchase new PE items for the kids here as well as replace some of our older pieces of equipment. We have learned that when you have 740 kids at a school, items don’t last as long as they do compared to schools with smaller populations. We will also use some of the winnings to continue to buy toe tokens for our Jr. Jogger running club that we do in the spring and fall twice a week at lunch recess. We regularly have 250 to 300 kids run at lunch recess. It is a sight to see.
Jeff Jones, Amon Creek Elementary PE
Dear 3 Rivers Road Runners,
Thank you so much for giving this opportunity to all elementary kids in the Tri Cities. Our school as a whole, had over 20 staff attend the run, while over 37 helped out with other behind the scenes stuff, worked REALLY HARD to get over 100 kids at this event and were thrilled we met that goal! Most of our students have never experienced a running event outside of our own jog a thon, so at times Saturday was a bit overwhelming, but also made for some new found love of running. As for how we will spend the funds we earned, we will spend some on our all school jog a thon and field day so all LC kids can share in our joy and excitement of setting goals and accomplishing them! Thanks again for investing in kids, we really appreciate it.
Jill Carter, Lewis and Clark PE teacher
We are beyond thankful for allowing our school students to participate in the Leprechaun Dash and for having rewarded our participants that have crossed the finish line! Since our school is a private school, we have to fundraise in order to be able to replace school equipment or things we need at school. The tuition students pay for helps pay for staff and basic building upkeep, everything else needs to be fundraised. Our classrooms are in need of basic recess equipment and this money will be used for that purpose! Thank you again so much for this amazing opportunity and we hope to participate again next year!
Blessings,
Johanna Guzman, 1st Grade Teacher, St. Joseph’s Catholic School