East Rockaway Education Foundation preparing for annual 5K

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The East Rockaway Education Foundation will host its third annual 5K race on March 24 at 9 a.m. to raise funds for projects for the East Rockaway School District.

“It’s become our largest fundraiser each year,” EREF Vice President Dan Caracciolo said.

To prepare for the race, a six-person 5K committee meets twice a month before the event, according to Caracciolo. The committee submits requests to spend money to the EREF, and write up contracts for the timers and for the port-a-potties. As committee chair, Caracciolo also has to work with the Village of East Rockaway to close roads for the race and has to inform the county’s Parks Department that participants will be running through Bay Park.

Participants must register and pay an entry fee to race the 3.1 miles from 101 Althouse Ave. to the corner of Front Street and Main Street. For adults, the entry fee costs $20 before the race, and $25 on the day of the race. Children 14 and younger who register before the day of the outing can participate for $12 and children who register at the race will cost $15.

The costs include a bib number, a T-shirt and refreshments. The fee can be paid in advance by sending a check payable to the East Rockaway Education Foundation to P.O. Box 230, East Rockaway, NY 11518. Participants must arrive to the race no later than 8:30 a.m.

So far, more than 100 people have registered for the event. Last year, about 176 runners and walkers participated in the race, which raised about $7,000. This year, Caracciolo said, he would like to net $7,500.

Some of the projects that the EREF has funded include the robotics club, school assemblies, career development workshops and flexible seating arrangements for the 2017-18 school year in Sarah Kane’s fourth-grade classroom.

“In my short experience with flexible seating, I have already seen that there is great benefit in the power of choice,” Kane said in a statement. “When students are given the freedom to pick to work in a spot that is best for them and their needs, they are more productively engaged.”