400 Volunteers Help 2,000 Kids Race for Joy in Salem

When 2,000 kids show up at dawn ready to race, you'd better have a plan and a golf cart.

Jodi Blackman leads the Awesome 3000, a youth fun run happening this Saturday at Bush's Pasture Park in Salem, Oregon. She's spent months preparing with a core team of 18 volunteers, plus 400 more who'll arrive at 5:30 a.m. to make magic happen.

The event brings children from toddlers to high schoolers together for races ranging from 300 to 3,000 meters. Every dollar raised supports students, teachers, and staff in the Salem-Keizer School District.

United Way revived the community tradition four years ago after it disappeared during Covid. The original Salem-Keizer Education Foundation ran it from 1983 until the organization dissolved, leaving a three-year gap that the community sorely felt.

Since taking over in 2021, United Way has raised more than $135,000. The secret? Volunteers who've been doing this for over 20 years and know exactly what works.

Families pick up race packets days early at Capitol Toyota, getting their questions answered before race day arrives. On Saturday morning, kids and parents receive matching bracelets for reunification, then children head to a volunteer-only inner field where the real choreography begins.

Volunteers sort kids by grade level and event, leading them through warm-ups before high school cross country runners take positions as "rabbits" and "turtles" at the front and back of each race. No child goes unaccounted for.

A professional starter in a red jacket fires the starting gun while volunteers watch for anxious kids, positioning them away from the loud noise. Once the race begins, volunteers line both sides of the course with cowbells and cheers, keeping spirits high and little feet on track.

Why This Inspires

The beauty of Awesome 3000 isn't just in the numbers, though 2,100 registered runners is impressive. It's in the details that show how much this community cares.

Volunteers remember which kids need extra encouragement. Older students run alongside younger ones who need support. When a child decides mid-race they're done, Blackman drives them in the golf cart to just before the finish line so they can still cross it themselves and feel proud.

Many volunteers worked together at the Salem-Keizer Education Foundation before it closed. They could have let this tradition die, but instead they brought their expertise to United Way and kept it alive.

"The Awesome really is one of the things I'm most proud to be a part of," Blackman said. She'll be there from setup at 5:30 a.m. through the first race at 8:15 a.m., solving problems and spreading joy, before catching a flight to San Francisco for a well-deserved celebration of her own.

Four hundred volunteers will spend nine hours on Saturday making sure thousands of kids feel like champions, and that's the kind of community investment that changes lives.