Teacher and students hold mini-marathon for charity

Sparta —When Barbara Gilmartin, physical education teacher at Helen Morgan School, signed up to run the San Francisco Nike Women’s Marathon on Oct. 22, she had the idea to organize a “mini-marathon” for her students, to help raise money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Her students at Helen Morgan had been working since the first day of school to prepare for the event. The first and second graders ran a ½ mile course and the third and fourth graders ran a 1 mile course. “This is my first marathon and I am doing it through Team in Training to raise money for the Society. We’ve made a pretty big deal of this here at Helen Morgan,” she said. “It went extremely well! The students and teachers had a blast! Between my personal fundraising for Team in Training for my marathon and what the students brought in, we have raised almost $6,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.”