By Nicole Tuck, Director, Bronxville Chamber of Commerce

Sep. 27, 2017: The Bronxville Chamber of Commerce announces the first annual "Yards for Yeardley" Road Race. The Chamber is honored to be partnering with the One Love Foundation, whose mission is to change the statistics around relationship abuse by educating young people about the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviors.

The 2.5-mile run will be held in Bronxville starting at the Meadow Avenue entrance to the school at 9:00 am on October 14 to benefit the One Love Foundation, which has its headquarters in the heart of Bronxville's business district.

Registration for the run can be made at https://register.chronotrack.com/r/33199 or www.bronxvillechamber.com.

The first 150 registrants will receive a free T-shirt; 400 runners are guaranteed a medal.

"The Chamber's hope is to raise awareness for the One Love Foundation within our village and beyond," said Nicole Tuck, director of the Bronxville Chamber of Commerce.

A portion of the proceeds will go to the foundation. In addition, runners will be able to sponsor a social fundraising campaign for One Love through CrowdRise. More information can be found when registering.

The run will start and finish on Meadow Avenue by The Bronxville School. Immediately following completion of the run, runners will be directed to Park Place for a block party, where run sponsors will have exhibits and each runner will be presented with a medal. There will be music, food, and give-a-ways.

"We have always been incredibly grateful for the early support we've received from our home community of Bronxville," said Sharon Robinson, vice chair of One Love and cousin of Yeardley Love's, in whose memory One Love was founded (see below). "This race is a perfect way to punctuate our deepened commitment to serving Bronxville and greater Westchester with a new retail presence and a robust docket of new community activities this fall." 

This initiative has been supported by the following key sponsors in addition to other chamber members who are sponsoring this community event: NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital, Pete's Tavern, Bronxville Auto Collision, Inc., Ladle Of Love, Acme, and Bronxville Fitness Club.

Founded in 2010 to honor the memory of Yeardley Love (known as "Yards"), who was beaten to death by her ex-boyfriend just three weeks before their graduation from the University of Virginia, One Love's mission is to end relationship abuse by educating young people about healthy and unhealthy relationship behaviors and empowering them to be leaders driving change in their communities. Over the last two years, more than 135,000 young people in communities across the country have participated in the Escalation Workshop, and almost 60 million have viewed the #ThatsNotLove campaign on social media. For more information, please visit www.joinonelove.org.

Pictured here:  Poster for the One Love Foundation 2.5-mile road race.

Photo courtesy Bronxville Chamber of Commerce

By Tom Welling and Peggy Williams, Executive Director, The Bronxville School Foundation

Dec. 7, 2016:  The 10th annual Katie Welling Run was held on its traditional day--the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Katie's death in an off-campus fire at Miami University in Ohio in 2005, just 11 days after her 21st birthday, was devastating for her family and friends, who still struggle with her loss. The love and support from Katie's friends and so many in the community were and continue to be a great source of comfort to the Welling family. Katie's Run is a recurring manifestation of this community spirit of caring.

Before the run began, Jennifer Doyle Kenney, joined by several of Katie's closest friends and classmates, welcomed more than 375 friends, family, and neighbors. Jennifer proceeded to describe her lifelong friend as a very special person who was beautiful inside and out and who always saw the good in people. Jennifer concluded by asking everyone to keep Katie in their thoughts today and every day.

The Bronxville School Foundation and the race coordinators wish to thank those of you whose support made the event a huge success. The 2.5-mile run/walk was organized by Katie's classmates and friends 10 years ago and has become an important community Thanksgiving weekend tradition. 

Since 2007, this event has raised over $115,000 for The Bronxville School Foundation. It is hard to adequately express the scope of support this has provided within the school community. The proceeds from the run are used by the foundation to support new programs at The Bronxville School, where Katie spent so many happy years. 

The foundation would like to thank Chief Christopher Satriale and the members of the Bronxville Police Department for their invaluable assistance. We would also like to thank the Running Company Store (which made its store available for registration on Friday), as well as several local businesses. Specifically, a post-race feast for runners and enthusiastic supporters was contributed by J&G Deli, Lange's Deli, and Park Place Bagels. Flowers were contributed by Mrs. Morgan's and by Tryforos & Pernice, and hundreds of wonderful pictures were contributed by Dr. Jim Hudson.

To view the pictures, go to www.bronxvilleschoolfoundation.org and click on the Katie Welling Post-it. Race results are posted at http://www.fultonaccuratetiming.com/results-entries/. To see a selection of the photos, click here.

Congratulations to the top three fastest finishers: Sean Ryan at 13:12, Owen Hayes at 14:34, and Akash Molekudy at 15:11.

Pictured here:  Participants and supporters of the Katie Welling Run gathered in front of The Bronxville School and Katie Welling Run cap.

Photos by Jim Hudson