By Jackie Monarrez |Staff Writer|
Every ten seconds a report of child abuse is being made.
Kappa Delta Sorority of Cal State San Bernardino volunteer each year to bring this statistic down by holding their annual Shamrock 5k run.
This was Kappa Delta’s sixth year in a row to hold this event; which was on March 5th.
The run is to raise money and awareness for Prevent Child Abuse America (PCAA).
In 2015 Kappa Delta raised over $27,000 for PCAA and their goal for 2016 was to raise $30,000.
PCAA helps nearly 100,000 families who have been affected by child abuse with their Healthy Families America program.
With the money raised by Kappa Delta approximately 80 percent goes to PCAA, while the other 20 percent goes to the child help facility in Beaumont, CA.
According to Child Help, the United States holds one of the worse records, for industrialized nations, of child abuse.
On average U.S looses between four to seven children daily from child abuse.
The San Bernardino community and other organizations and clubs on campus come together with Kappa Delta to take part in helping out PCAA.
This year there was approximately 685 runners signed up for the Shamrock run.
Olivia Wilson, who is Kappa Deltas VP of Community Service chair, was the brains behind putting the 5K together and bringing it to life.
When asked what inspired her to run for Community Service chair, Wilson said, “I have always been apart of helping my community throughout my high school years.”
“Once I learned of Kappa Delta’s philanthropies, I knew I wanted to be apart of making opportunities possible,” continued Wilson.
“My favorite part about Shamrock was simply witnessing the participation and support we had. It is an amazing feeling when you see your guests having a great time and talking about their donations to PCAA. I also enjoyed working with my chapter and seeing all their enthusiasm,” Wilson stated.
The big question here is how much did Kappa Delta raise for PCAA?
“We are still in the process of calculating our total, but as of right now, we raised over $20,000 for PCAA,” Wilson stated.
“We worked hard on making the course precise and having activities, food, and entertainment after the race,” concluded Wilson.
After the run, there were activities the runners could participate in such as a bouncy house for the children, a taco truck for those hungry runners and music in case anyone had left over energy to keep moving.
The participants who signed up received a t-shirt for the run and a pamphlet on how they can get more involved in raising money and bring awareness to child abuse.
Kappa Delta has partnered with Girl Scouts of the USA and take part in the Confidence Coalition.
With the Girl Scouts, Kappa Delta teaches them to have confidence in themselves and to inspire them to attend college.
Selina Lopez, an active member of Kappa Delta, stated, “I don’t do this for myself, I do it for the kids, so they can have a better and healthier life.”
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