Semper Gratus charity 5K race returns to West Leechburg

The Shamrock Shuffle race is back and scheduled for March 13 in West Leechburg.

The annual 5K race/one-mile walk by the nonprofit Semper Gratus will return this year, about a year after the 2020 race was postponed and ultimately canceled because of the covid-19 pandemic.

“Our efforts as an organization don’t stop,” said Ian Coyle, founder and president of Semper Gratus. “Our mission is supporting pediatric patients affected by cancers and disabilities. That stuff doesn’t stop.”

The 5K race/one-mile walk, followed by a St. Patrick’s Day dance, has become a successful fundraiser for organizations supporting pediatric patients with chronic and terminal illnesses. Each year, the nonprofit partners with a different foundation to support a new cause. In the past, Coyle has raised money for research of cystic fibrosis, cerebral palsy and leukemia and lymphoma.

Last year, despite the event’s eventual cancellation, the nonprofit raised nearly $30,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

This year will come with some changes. There will be no dance party after the race/walk, Coyle said, and there will be a number of safety mitigations aimed at preventing the spread of covid-19.

Masks are required, hand sanitizing stations will be scattered throughout the event and masked and gloved volunteers will be handling race check-in and water distribution. Additionally, the race will have staggered starts to prevent crowding, and outdoor heaters will be placed around the area, so too many people don’t congregate inside the West Leechburg Fireman’s Recreation Hall. There will be no opening or closing ceremonies, to discourage gathering.

If vaccine distribution continues expediently and if restrictions are further lifted by the summer, Coyle said Semper Gratus — which means “always grateful” in Latin — will hold another race and a dance party in July. The new event, with a Christmas-in-July theme, will be the Santa Shuffle, scheduled for July 10.

A portion of proceeds this year will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

“(It’s) any way that we can introduce and inject positivity and raise awareness and find ways to pay it forward,” Coyle said.

Canceling last year’s event was a difficult decision, he said, but it felt like the only responsible thing to do, especially given the guests of honor are often patients or former patients themselves and have compromised immune systems.

This year’s guest of honor is 14-year-old Sophie Stophel, who recovered from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow that she was diagnosed with at the age of 3. Now a student at Montour High School, Stophel has been cancer-free for almost nine years. She has scattered memories of her time battling Leukemia – including one anecdote when, as a young child, she hid behind the curtains on a hospital room floor, trying to avoid a spinal tap.

Stophel met Coyle through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, for which she has been an active fundraiser since she was 8. The two reconnected when Stophel began campaigning to be organization’s “Student of the Year” – a philanthropic leadership development program.

Stophel said she’s looking forward to the Shamrock Shuffle as an opportunity to bring more awareness to the event’s cause.

“It made me really honored and excited that he would ask me for such a thing,” Stophel said of being the guest of honor. “It definitely made me even more excited that he was still able to do the event with everything going on.”

Coyle said bringing the event back this year feels especially meaningful. A new virtual 5K option has allowed Semper Gratus to connect with donors across the state and the nation. Coyle said he hopes to match last year’s fundraising achievement and raise around $30,000 from both the Shamrock and Santa Shuffles. He said the organization has already raised more money than they had at this time last year.

“It’s been indescribable having the community support and creating something that’s become an annual expectation, and that it’s reached beyond Leechburg,” Coyle said.

The Shamrock Shuffle will start at 10 a.m. March 13, with registration beginning at 9 a.m. The address is 1116 Gosser St., at the West Leechburg Fireman’s Recreation Hall.