SEARCY — Something sweet is coming to Searcy for this year’s big fundraiser for the Court Appointed Special Advocates of White County.
The 2019 Donut Dash will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. March 2 in Bison Park at Harding University.
“This is our eighth annual fundraising fun run, but this is the first Donut Dash we’ve ever done,” said Parker Samuel, student intern at CASA of White County. “What it is, essentially, is a 2-mile race where the runners will run 1 mile, then eat a couple of doughnuts and finish the race.”
Samuel said he’s seen this take place in other cities in the United States.
“It is something that has kind of spread the past couple of years across America in different cities,” he said. “We’re going to have a doughnut-eating contest for either runners or people who want to just be contestants. Essentially, this is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year.”
Laura Burks, executive director of CASA of White County, said the running event, which has been a 5K race in the past held in April, was moved to March this year.
“We thought we’d try a little bit shorter race,” she said. “We had been told about events like this in other small college towns. We thought it would be something fun and different that we don’t already have around here.”
Burks said there are numerous 5K events in Searcy this time of year.
“We thought we might branch out and try something a little bit different to, hopefully, drum up more participation this year,” she said.
Burks said the running event usually raises between $14,000 and $16,000 each year, and most of the funds come through sponsorships.
“We hope to get sponsorships equivalent to what we’ve done in the past,” she said. “It’s a big help for us as we raise funds for operation and for mileage. We have volunteers that we train and support throughout the year. It’s a big help for us.”
The cost to run in the event is $25 for adults and $15 for students. The doughnut-eating contest costs $10.
“I think you can put the word fun in front of run, and people don’t associate the two together,” Samuel said, “but when it involves something fun and silly like doughnuts, it gives a little more incentive to people and, hopefully, more of a memory after they finish the race.”
For more information, visit www.wccasa.org or CASA of White County’s Facebook page.
Burks said CASA of White County serves more than 200 children each year.
“We have more than one contact with those children through the course of a year,” she said. “We’re working with them throughout the year, not just one time. We have volunteers who serve those children, and we average 90 cases at a time.”
Burks said CASA is dependent upon volunteers helping children through their neglect cases.
“Without these volunteers stepping up to help us, we wouldn’t be able to do it,” she said. “It is a volunteer-based program, but it does require funds because we do have people on staff who help those volunteers, and we offer them resources. We pay mileage for the staff and for the volunteers who travel the state to see some of the children who are placed out of our county.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.