The La Salle University Baseball team gathered outside the Four Seasons at 7:30 AM on their Sunday off to participate in a great event with a great kid.
Over 30 members of the team participated in the annual 2009 Parkway Run/Walk last Sunday. The team helped raise over $550,000 for the Cancer Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
This year's Parkway Run/Walk was a record setter in many different aspects. 2009 included the most registrants, individual donations, runners, and teams the event has seen yet.
Specifically, the team sponsored “A Smile for Kyle,” just one of a hundred individual groups that participated in the event. At age 2, Kyle was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, which is a solid mass of malignant nerve cells, commonly found in young children. Kyle is now 5.
“I thought it was awesome” said Jeremy Zarou, a junior on the team. “It puts a lot into perspective meeting Kyle.”
Before the race started, Kyle was given a baseball with the signatures of every member on the team and a La Salle baseball shirt. Kyle’s parents, Nicole and Jerry Gray, then handed out “A Smile for Kyle” t-shirts, which the team donned affectionately.
“When I woke up I didn’t want to go” said Chris Umstead, another junior on the team. “I got there and started running and thought it was pretty cool.”
“There were a lot of people cheering me on and I realized that this was important to a lot of people” said Umstead.
Before the day was out, the team finished a 5k run in the pouring rain, and delivered a smile to an unforgettable boy.
You can donate to the Cancer Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia all year long at parkwayrun.com
“It was amazing to see so many people come to the event” said Jeff Flax, a sophomore second basemen.
