Will You Party at the Rock and Roll 5K?

Fitness for a cause: The Newark Morning Rotary Club presents the second annual Rock and Roll 5K to raise money for the Newark Area Welfare Committee.


You probably know that running delivers health benefits that extend far beyond any pill a doctor could prescribe.

So does performing charitable acts. Study after study indicate that people who give their time to help others through community and organizational involvement have lower stress and blood pressure levels, greater happiness and less depression than those who don’t. They live longer as well.

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You can get the benefits of both activities on Saturday, Nov. 7 when the Newark Morning Rotary Club presents the second annual Rock and Roll 5K at the Newark Country Club to raise money for the Newark Area Welfare Committee.

In addition to the 5K, the event will feature moon bounces and face painting for the kids, a silent auction, food, drinks and dancing to classic rock music provided by the band Club Phred. This year’s event will also feature a special surprise unique to a golf course setting, planners say.

“Our motto is ‘We threw a party and a 5K broke out,’” says Paul Keely, fundraising chair for the Newark Morning Rotary club.

The Rotarians came up with the idea for a 5K last year when they learned that NAWC had lost its block grant from the state of Delaware, seriously hampering its ability to deliver much-needed services to residents of Newark and surrounding communities. Last year’s event raised $6,300.

“It helps supplement the money we lost from the grant, so we can continue to provide the services people are used to us giving,” says Lyn Henshaw, who is in charge of fundraising for NAWC. “If we didn’t have that, we certainly would have a deficit based on our usual budgeting.”

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More than 2,900 individuals receive assistance from one or more of the following NAWC programs:

• The Emergency Assistance Program pays several hundred utility bills yearly, assists families needing help with rent or mortgage payments as well as homeless families needing temporary lodging in motels. The fund also helps families obtain prescription medications.

• The Food Cupboard serves people in need with three meals a day for a week. Last year, it provided 953 adults and children with more than 20,000 meals.

• The Shoe Committee provides new shoes for adults and children in need. A grant from the Wilmington Flower Market, as well as donations, fund the program. Payless and Kmart are cooperating merchants. Last year, more than 600 adults and children were served.

• The Holiday Food Box Program gives away hundreds of boxes of valuable food items to families in need. Each box contains canned and boxed foods, fresh foods and vegetables, margarine, bread and a frozen turkey. Last year, 343 boxes fed more than 1,000 adults and children.

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• The To-Go Bags Program fills gallon-sized plastic bags with a nutritious meal to be picked up by the needy at the Empowerment Center at the Newark United Methodist Church on East Main Street.

• The Bean Soup Mix Program is the mainstay of “Good Neighbor Day,” the fundraiser held each October. The soup mix is available for purchase at various locations throughout Newark.

• Val’s Needy Family Fund continues the work of the late Valentino “Val” Nardo who started feeding the hungry in 1968. The program became part of NAWC upon his death in 2012.


2nd annual Rock and Roll 5K
Time: Registration: 3–3:45 p.m., Kids’ race: 3:30 p.m. 5K: 4 p.m.
Location: Newark Country Club, 300 E. Main St., Newark
Fee: $20
Live music by Club Phred (www.clubphred.com), food and drinks, fun and games and more: 3–7 p.m. Free.
To register: www.nmrde.org/rockandroll5k

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