On the first Monday in September, area firefighters will gear up and take off for a great cause. Just over 9 miles, this run features firefighters in full response equipment running to raise money for Riley’s Children’s Hospital. This event is being held in conjunction with the Marshall County Blueberry Festival.
Plymouth Firefighter Darren Miller divulged some details about what firefighters go through during the run, “It’s a lot of training to get up to 9.3 miles just running without firefighter gear but when you add that extra 50 lbs to you and gear that holds in your body heat, it’s hot, 80 plus degrees on labor day, its just tough.”
He said the firefighters endure the heat because they know its for a great cause. All money collected will go to Riley’s Children’s Hospital. Last year more than $13,000 was raised and Miller said the goal this year is to beat last year’s amount and potentially even reach $20,000.
Once all the money is collected, Miller says the check is personally delivered to Riley’s, “What we do is, the day after we collect all the money, we get a big check. We take it up there, and they use it for the ‘magic cart.’ Magic cart is where there’s a little box that goes around to each room and gives a toy to each kid.”
Donations can be made one of three ways: local businesses will have boots where donations can be made, firefighters will be walking around with donation boots to collect money during the run or you can make a bigger donation by directly contacting Darren Miller with Plymouth Fire Department at 574-780-1389.
