Skip to main content

Race to Remember 5k, Helping Those Cope who are Facing End of Life Issues

Shepherd's Cove Hospice, Albertville, AL Founded in 2007, shepherdscovehospice.org

This Saturday, April 27th, 2019, marks the 14th Annual Race to Remember 5K, in Albertville, benefitting Shepherd's Cove Hospice. Shepherd's Cove began as a small, grassroots, all volunteer  nonprofit hospice agency in the early 1980's, roomed in what is now a closet at the Guntersville Recreation Center (shepherdscovehospice.org). Since then, after becoming a Medicare certified agency, and a United Way of Marshall County partner agency, Shepherd's Cove has grown to become a powerhouse is hospice care being recognized across Northeast Alabama for its exceptional, unmatched in and outpatient care of those facing end of life issues, and their families. What's even more remarkable is that SCH continues to be the only independent nonprofit hospice agency in North Alabama, meaning they operate solely on donor funding, memorials, and fundraisers, yet they've never turned an indigent patient away who needed care. This makes them one of Albertville's most prized partners and we're so grateful to have them in our city.


It is the Mission of Shepherd's Cove Hospice, a non-profit agency, to provide, with a servant's heart, exceptional, individualized care for those coping with end-of-life issues.

Shepherd's Cove Hospice Logo, shepherdscovehospice.org 
The annual Race to Remember 5K is a huge undertaking that requires the Shepherd's Cove Hospice Foundation, Race to Remember Committee, sponsors, and City of Albertville Police Department, Fire & Rescue, Communications Team, and Public Works all working as a team to ensure the event goes off without a hitch. In addition to all the "major players" involved, it takes some 300 plus volunteers to ensure everything runs smoothly and fundraising efforts are a success. Last year, approximately $84,000 were raised as a direct result of the race. This year's superhero theme, "Race to Remember- Be a Hospice Hero" is on track to be just as successful as last year, and hopefully, even more! There's still time to sign up, just visit racetoremember.run, online, to register, and be a part of helping those coping with end-of-life issues.


Why blog about an organization as separate from the city as this, you ask? Well, in my position as Assistant to the Mayor and Communications Specialist for Albertville, I'm blessed to be able to serve my hometown via number of different civic and volunteer organizations. Shepherd's Cove Hospice just happens to be one of my favorites! You'll learn as you all advance in your careers and "real life" in Public Relations and Communications, especially if you end up in public service, that it's nearly impossible to be successful if you aren't involved in your community, or, in some cases, in the lives of your clients and business partners. Before I came to work for the city, I would've never imagined volunteering myself to work on a 5K committee for nine months out of the year raising money and marketing an event separate from my own work duties, much less wake up at 4 am on a Saturday so I could work the actual race event all morning, but, here I am; and the fulfillment I get from giving back to my community is every bit worth it.

Aside from the planning and coordinating that goes into making sure an APD Officer is at each major intersection of the race route, barricades and cones from the public works department are in other intersections, Albertville Fire Paramedics are on scene with an ambulance, ensuring 40 tables have been gathered for race day and return to Albertville Parks and Recreation Department when it's complete, and city commercial garbage and recycle cans are on scene and in proper locations for the event, it's my job to ensure our marketing and communications team has done their due diligence in promoting the event to the best of our ability. This is all part of building a sense of community, one of the largest duties of my job, and something I take a great deal of pride in.

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, you can find me at Albertville High School Saturday morning, along with hundreds of my friends, getting ready for the big race! Come out and be a part of it. We would love to have you!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A "Ground Breaking" Project, Welcome Sand Mountain Park & Amphitheater to Albertville

Sand Mountain Park, Baseball Complex, Championship Field Something "BIG" is coming, something rather unprecedented for Marshall County, AL, much less, Albertville. Something of the magnitude of approximatley 133 acres, buildings of near 300,000 square feet, and more; but, we'll get back to that in a minute. For years, as a municipality, we've struggled to gain the attention we deserve from retailers and developers who have notoriously built just outside of our city limits, often times, in Guntersville, to draw from the lake, or previously, in Boaz, to be near the now decrepit Tanger Outlets. Albertville is three times the size of our neighboring cities ranging 26 square miles, with a population of nearly 30,000. When Wal-Mart, Belk, Lowe's, Staple's, Chik Fil A, Cracker Barrel, Publix, and a vast array of other retailers decided to locate outside of our city limits to the North and South of us, our friends in Boaz and Guntersville began "eating ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Farm to Fork on Main

Albertville Farmers Market's fourth annual Farm to Table Dinner has officially been set for Thursday, September 5th, 2019, on Main Street! Tickets will go on sale mid summer, at Albertville Farmers Market, and online at cityofalbertville.com, via EventBrite. Stay tuned to the Farmers Market's social channels for an "on sale date" announcement! Pay close attention, as most years tickets are gone before most folks even hear they're on sale, and seating is limited to 150 people.  AHS ProStart Culinary Students  Farm to Table Dinner Setting If you've attended before, you know, the menu is ALWAYS a suprise and it gets better and better every single year! Featured chefs in the past have been Crystal McKone of Old Town Stock House and Jessica Hanners of Homecoming Cafe and Catering. Both previous chefs are known for their farm to fork menu concept, sourcing all of their ingredients locally, and helping cultivate sustainable farming in our community. The ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Census 2020, Good Thing or Scary Thing?

Demonstrators rally outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday to protest a proposal to add a citizenship question in the 2020 Census Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images   https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-citizenship-question-to-census Our country experienced a milestone date in April, as we kicked off the one year out mark from the 2020 Census. It's hard to believe the last Census was taken in 2010. To say it, doesn't sound that long ago, but consider where you were nine years ago, how old you were, what you were doing. More importantly, consider technology and how different it looks today. Even nine years ago, the evolution of social media hadn't come full circle to the point it has today. Smartphones, Tablets, and iPads were just becoming known to the majority of society, but most weren't yet household "givens" at that time, as they were just beginning to gain notoriety. I know, that's hard to imagine today!  So, now consider what canvas...
Post a Comment
Read more