KC Star Article Featuring Our Team - 8/12

The Star called and they did a small story on our team for the paper today 8/12. Here is the article:

Posted on Tue, Aug. 11, 2009

No boundaries for one team in Race for the Cure
By CANDACE BUCKNERcbuckner@theolathenews.com

Last Sunday, Debra Lewis and company made their presence felt.

When thousands gathered near Union Station for the 16th annual Susan G. Komen Kansas City Race for the Cure, the 5-kilometer/walk fundraiser for the fight against breast cancer, Lewis organized the largest team of friends and family. The “Debra’s Circle of Friends” consisted of 264 members — some runners, walkers, one-milers and a few sleep-ins — but all helped to raise $3,950.

Although Lewis, a breast cancer survivor and mother from Olathe, has already surpassed her fundraising total from last year, she hopes to reach $5,000 before the upcoming Sunday deadline.

“We started to do our fundraising last year … and raised $2,700 without really trying,” Lewis said. “This time I tried to do something a little different.”

Lewis and her sons started an e-mail campaign that hit everyone they knew. While times are tough for many these days, Lewis simply asked each person to send one dollar. And for a side project, the Lewis family decided to test their national reach.

“The boys and I were trying to see if we could get donations from every state,” Lewis said.

The Lewis family can now claim donations from almost every state — even Vermont — as well as several dollars from Canada and England.

“We’re down to three states,” Lewis said. “The (ones) we have left are some of the hard ones.”
Up to 75 percent of the proceeds from the Race stay in the Kansas City area for breast cancer screening, treatment and education.

During the actual 5K competitive timed-run on Sunday morning, several familiar names raced to the top.

Bret Imgrund, the former Shawnee Mission Northwest cross country standout who won several individual state championships in track, topped the men’s open field in 15 minutes, 21.13 seconds. Scott Gillespie, who once helped SM South win a track and field team state championship, finished second in 16:14.97.

Among the open women, Kristen Gillespie, who also won state titles at SM South, finished first in 19:06.85. Rebeka Stowe, formerly of Olathe Northwest, placed second.

It’s no wonder that these area runners finished so well; all run competitively for Division-I colleges. Imgrund and Stowe have continued their careers at Kansas while the Gillespie siblings attend Arkansas (Scott) and Oklahoma State (Kristen).

The Greater Kansas City Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is still accepting donations until Sunday at www.komenkansascity.org or via mail at P.O. Box 413247, Kansas City, Mo 64141-3247