The St. Vincent de Paul Society is sponsoring the 5k or 1k run in conjunction with the Southeast Alaska Roadrunners on Saturday, Oct. 3, at St. Paul’s Church.
Registration begins at 8:15 a.m. and the run begins at 9 a.m. The entry fee for runners 18 years and older is $20. For younger runners the fee is $10. A snack will be provided after the run.
Proceeds from the fundraiser supports St. Vincent de Paul’s work of serving the poor of Juneau.
St. Vincent de Paul is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that has provided assistance to the poor and homeless of Juneau for more than 25 years. Any money received from sponsors and donors goes to aid those in need. The St. Vincent Thrift Store generates about half the funds needed to run the homeless shelter; the remainder comes from grants, donations and the annual St. Vincent de Paul fundraiser, such as this year’s Friends of the Poor Run, or Friends of the Poor Walk, which happened Sept. 26.
In a press release, St. Vincent de Paul said, per capita, Juneau is the most homeless city in Alaska. Presently, the 26 rooms of the homeless shelter at St. Vincent de Paul are occupied by 41 adults and 37 children. As of June of this year, 100 households were wait-listed for the shelter.
St. Vincent de Paul owns and manages 29 affordable housing units and manages another 91 units located around town. Managing affordable housing units helps facilitate the transition of shelter residents to the affordable housing units, which are more permanent housing.
The shelter rooms have a time-limited stay attached to them, an emergency stop-over, a get-your-feet-under-you place, then on to a more permanent living space. Therefore, often the aid continues past the door of the shelter unit, commonly as help with food, rent, utility bills, medical issues or transportation, like a bus pass for travel to and from work.
For further information visit svdpjuneau.org.
