BY TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR
Katy Bailey, the Youth Director at Our Saviours Lutheran Church in Merrill, is organizing a Color Fun Run to provide support to Ukraine and Eastern Europe during this time of war and crisis for so many people there.
The Color Fun Run will be held on May 6, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. at the Agra Pavillion and the River Bend Trail here in Merrill, and there are multiple ways to get involved. Participants can “Run, Walk, or Sleep in for Relief.”
The cost to register is $40 per person; participants should contact the Merrill Chamber of Commerce to register ASAP. Registration includes a t-shirt to wear if participants plan to run or walk the event and a pillowcase with the Color Run logo and sponsors printed on it if they opt to sleep in that day to support the cause instead. Participants should register by this Saturday, April 15, to ensure their t-shirt size is ordered; t-shirt size availability cannot be guaranteed after that date.
All proceeds from registration will go to Lutheran Disaster Relief in direct response to the Eastern European Crisis.
Sponsors are also being sought for the event. Sponsorship of the event helps cover the costs associated with the run, the t-shirts, and the other amenities and necessities for the event. Several sponsors have already stepped forward to help, including Crystal Finishing Systems, the Community Foundation, Riverside Athletic, and some individual sponsors. Katy said it is “with immense gratitude” that she thanks the event sponsors for their generous gifts thus far, and she is hopeful others will also be inspired to help sponsor the event.
For Katy, helping support the people affected by the Eastern European Crisis, most specifically in Ukraine, is both personal and heartbreaking.
“The Eastern Europe Crisis has been ongoing for too long now,” she said. “It is deeply heartbreaking to hear of the war in Ukraine.”
“The lives of families have been destroyed. People have been ripped away from their homes, homeland, and all that they have ever known. Now the conflict is even moving its way into Poland where Ukrainians have found safety,” Katy said. “It is impossible to even imagine what people in Eastern Europe have been going through. From the families who have left everything behind, to all of the families who have sent their loved ones to war, to all of the death and destruction.”
“The Ukrainians are so incredibly proud of their country and are immensely strong,” she said.
Katy was born in Ukraine and was adopted when she was four years old through Lutheran Family Services. She came to live in the United States with her new parents in Richmond, Virginia, where she was introduced to Epiphany Lutheran Church. There she was baptized, confirmed, and grew up, becoming very active in the Lutheran church. She attended a Lutheran college and moved to Wisconsin to become the Director of Youth and Family Ministry at Our Saviours in Merrill.
Due to her upbringing, Katy has a special place in her heart for the ELCA Lutheran Church, she said. But she also still has a very special place in heart for Ukraine and even more reasons than it being her birthplace that the crisis there deeply affects her.
In Ukraine, Katy is known as Katya. She still has family in Ukraine. Her half sister, Anastasia, and Anastasia’s son, Dan, had to escape Kiev while it was being bombed.
Katy and her husband, Eric, stayed up all night long that night, waiting to hear they had made it out of Ukraine safely.
Anastasia’s ex-husband, Roman, who is Dan’s father, had to go fight in the war.
After that long and restless night, Katy decided it was time to do something more than pray. While prayer is always enough, she said, she was also inspired to take action.
And that desire inspired this Color Fun Run. Katy/Katya wants people from the Merrill community and beyond to know there is something they can do to provide relief for the Eastern Europe Crisis, and that something is participating in the Color Fun Run.
Already her new church family at Our Saviours Lutheran Church in Merrill, Pastor Mike at St. Stephen’s United Church of Christ, Brandon from Riverside Athletic, Cheryl and Sarah from the Chamber of Commerce, the Foto News, and many others have been helping support the event, Katy said.
For more information about sponsoring the Color Fun Run, email Katy at: [email protected].
Katy is also looking for volunteers to help with the event. For instance, she said, to be at a color throw station, hand out water, etc. Anyone who is interested in volunteering should email her, as well.
And don’t forget–register by the end of the day this Saturday to ensure they will have your proper t-shirt size if you will be walking or running in the event.