GIRARD — Approximately 100 runners and walkers participated in the Girard Community Color Run 5K race, ranging from infants in strollers to senior citizens.

The race took place Sunday afternoon at Girard High School and was the brainchild of four Girard High School National Honor Society members. Proceeds will benefit the Emmanuel Community Care Center (ECCC) in Girard, which provides food and clothing to those in need from the community.

“We remembered the color run held after Justin Leo passed away,” said Julia Ragozzino, a senior who was one of the four organizers. “We wanted to recreate the same type of community spirit for the benefit of our local food pantry.”

Leo was a Girard police officer who died in October 2017 after being shot in the line of duty.

Julia, along with seniors Alexis Pieton and Maddy Gassman and junior Brooke Zatvarnicky, sat down with their National Honor Society adviser, Kelly Sandy, in January to plan the event.

“The color run idea was a way to make running fun,” Alexis said. “We had 10 different color stations set up along the way where volunteer students threw powder dust at the runners. They all started the race with white T-shirts and ended the race looking quite colorful.”

The race began and ended at the high school and navigated through Squaw Creek Estates in between.

“We are so grateful to the Girard police and fire departments,” Maddy said. “They were receptive from the beginning and gave us their blessing. They made sure the streets were closed so we could run the race. They also donated money to fund the 10 color stations. We couldn’t have done this without their cooperation.”

The four students also canvassed the community to find other sponsors, including Griffith Insurance Agency, the local Dairy Queen, Mayor Mark Zuppo and police Chief John Norman. The girls even solicited Walmart on Belmont Avenue to donate oranges and bananas for all the runners.

“We really appreciate Knightline Embroidery and Screen Print for giving us a great deal on the T-shirts,” Brooke said. “We put our design on the front and listed our sponsors on the back. All those white T-shirts didn’t stay white for very long.”

Taking first place in the race was Emma Latell, 13, who is in the 8th grade at Girard. She won a Nothing Bundt Cake goodie bag donated by the Niles store. Coming in second place was Tony Cella, 61, of Girard, who won two free admissions donated by the Past Times Arcade in Girard. Finishing third was Alex Clark, 25, of Farmdale, who won one free ticket from the arcade.

But the biggest winner was the Emmanuel Community Care Center, which received approximately $1,000 from the proceeds of the race. This amount far exceeded the girls’ expectations.

“We’re thrilled to be giving the Emmanuel Center at least $1,000,” Julia said. “We had no history to indicate if the idea would even work. I’m really proud of our school. There were 40 volunteers from the Beta Club and National Honor Society who stepped up to make this event a success.”

Those volunteers worked at the stations throwing powder dust and also providing water bottles to thirsty runners. In addition, two EMT stations were set up by the Girard Fire Department as a precaution.

The four students took a leadership role in getting through the challenges of conducting the race. In addition to securing donations and sponsorships, the girls worked with local government authorities to make it all happen.

“One of the tricky things was making sure the race was 5K (3.1 miles) and not anything more or less,” Alexis said. “Our school’s athletics director, Nick Cochran, helped us with that as we charted mileage through Squaw Creek. We wanted to avoid church traffic on Sunday so we didn’t use the main roads.”