LAWRENCE COUNTY TOURISM SPONSORS TURKEY TROT
Approximately 7 years ago, Shila Pack and Wes Kingsmore brainstormed about a way to raise donations for their local food bank. The two Lawrence County community organizers decided on a TURKEY TROT, a fun 5K walk/run, on the morning of Thanksgiving Day. For many people, Thanksgiving Day is a day of plenty… plenty of family, plenty of comfort and plenty of food. But Pack and Kingsmore realized that for other families, Thanksgiving may not be a day of “plenty” and thought “what better day to raise awareness and money for those families and children that need some extra help than Thanksgiving?”
Ms. Pack stated that they weren’t quite sure how well the idea would catch on and the first year there were only 6 or 7 participants and they probably only raised about $50 for the food bank. Ms. Pack continued “The Turkey Trot has grown each and every year since. Last year in 2018, we had about 60 participants and collected several pounds of food and over $1200 for the local food bank and the school backpack program”.
Wes Kingsmore, who is also the Lawrence County Tourism Director, said “Shila and I want to invite everyone to participate this year and make 2019 our best year yet! This year we are also offering a 1 mile, 2 mile or 3.1 (5K) course.”
If you are interested in participating you can pre-register by texting your name and T-shirt size to 606-369-0672 (the first 60 that preregisters gets a free T-shirt). You can also just come to the Lawrence County High School football field at 8 am on Thanksgiving morning. THERE IS NO COST TO PARTICIPATE. Monetary or food donations will be accepted that morning! The Turkey Trot is sponsored by the Lawrence County Tourism Commission.
