Maximilian Meyers and Brandon Barkey’s first annual Run & Jam 5k to support The Helping Hand will take place on Sept. 21 on the McVay Trail in Indianola. Students, faculty, and members of the Indianola community are welcomed and encouraged to participate.
The Helping Hand assists people who are struggling with food insecurity or are in need of clothing and other supplies.
“Don’t not do it because you haven’t been training for it,” Meyers said. “You don’t need to be an experienced runner. It’s a run/walk race, you can run as much of it and walk as much of it as you like. 70 percent of the people signed up are going to walk most of it. It’s more about raising money and awareness for the cause.”
Meyers originally came up with the idea for a fundraiser race as the philanthropy chair of Simpson’s chapter of the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha. He was looking for a new and fun way for the chapter to serve the community.
Lambda has an existing relationship with The Helping Hand, and Meyers and Barkey both enjoy volunteering there as part of their fraternity’s service efforts.
“Every Tuesday morning [last semester], I would unload their truck,” Barkey said. Meyers agreed their previous experience with the organization inspired them to host the 5k for their benefit.
“It felt like the obvious connection, ” Barkey said. “Immediately, we knew that’s where we wanted our money to go.”
The pair said it has been surreal watching their idea turn into a reality.
“We initially had our hopes very high,” Barkey said. “As we kept going throughout the process of planning everything and getting actual feedback and interest, we kept lowering those benchmarks and goalposts, and then it turned out that we were correct in the first place. We’ve really just blown our concept of what was possible out of the water.”
They’ve managed to secure sponsorships from local radio station KNIA KRLS, as well as the Indianola HyVee. When they received immense community support and imagined the potential community impact, they realized the event had become bigger than a Lambda philanthropy project. They intend to make the Run & Jam an annual event for the community.
“It helps cement the event as something past just Lambdas can do. For the future of the event, it was important to show that this is an annual thing beyond if there’s someone in the house that would like to take it up,” Barkey said.
Meyers intends to train someone new next year to continue the tradition after he graduates.
“I think if you can do the right thing, you should,” Barkey said. “Max and I knew that we were capable of putting our heads together and putting on this big event, and we knew we had the capability to make it what it could be. And because we could, we knew that we should.”
Community members are encouraged to register for the event up until 10 am on the day of the race. The fee to enter is a donation of either ten dollars, five nonperishable food items or three clothing items, all of which will go to The Helping Hand.
