SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — The 14th Annual Cantina Kids Fun Run drew 911 participants and raised $75,000 to support children’s healthcare at Saratoga Hospital – bringing the event’s total raised to date to more than $756,000.
The run returned to Congress Park recently after a two-year COVID-19 hiatus.
“We are beyond grateful to the families who came out to support this community event. It was great to see familiar faces and so many new ones,” Heath Ames of Cantina restaurant said in a press release. She and her husband, Jeff, conceived the idea for the race and brought it to Saratoga Hospital in 2008.
“From the start, we hoped the Fun Run would make an impact on the quality of pediatric healthcare for our community, but we never imagined we would reach over $756,000 in donations,” Ames continued, thanking sponsors, race participants and volunteers for making it possible.
Pediatric patients require special equipment and expertise, and the Cantina Kids Fun Run aims to assist with both. The event has provided funds for critical training in neonatal resuscitation, pediatric blood draws, pediatric diabetes, pediatric and adolescent psychiatry and pediatric allergic reactions. Fun Run proceeds also have been used to purchase pediatric diagnostic tools, including a video laryngoscope. A portion of past proceeds benefited the campaign for the hospital’s Alfred Z. Solomon Emergency Center.
Top finishers at this year’s Fun Run events were Jordan Jacques, Finn McLaughlin, William Beecher, Emmerson McLaughlin, Molly Horst and Evelyn Spring in the quarter-mile race as well as Dylan Wright, Hunter Ungeheuer, Harrison Ungeheuer, Julianna St. John, Dagny Kelly and Anna Yarsevich in the one-mile race. The Healthiest School Contest, which recognizes the school with the highest percentage of registered student participants, was won by Saratoga Independent School.
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