ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Mid-November is here, and that means Thanksgiving is just around the corner.
This coming Saturday, running and walking enthusiasts have a chance to get in some exercise and help a good cause at the same time.
USD 483’s Mustang Mentors program is sponsoring its second annual Turkey Trot 5K Walk Run starting at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Plains Golf Course.
USD 483 Nurse Norma Sanchez, the event’s organizer, said Mustang Mentors is an afterschool program that meets twice a month and gives younger kids some extra time with mentors from Southwestern Heights High School and Junior High.
“They play games, have activities,” she said. "They have a snack, and we give them some attention.”
Sanchez said Mustang Mentors is similar to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
“It’s a good way to help the younger kids get to know the older kids since they’re all in different buildings and in different towns,” she said. “It connects everybody. That connectivity lets them have somebody to look up to, and those kids have somebody to be accountable for. It’s a really good program, and we always do really awesome activities.”
Sanchez said USD 483’s school guidance counselor puts together some great lessons for Mustang Mentors, and with the help of the community, some fun things are put in place for the kids.
“It’s been really positive,” she said. “We’ve seen lots of great things come out of it. What we’re seeing now is those older mentors from the junior high and high school, they were kids who went through the Mustang Mentors. It’s really awesome to see how they started off as the kids in grade school being led, and now, they’re being the leaders in junior high. It’s a great program.”
Sanchez said last year’s inaugural Turkey Trot had a great turnout, and she said participants can walk or run. She added it is a family friendly event everyone can enjoy.
“It’s a great time to come out, get a little community time in, get some exercise in and give to a great cause,” she said.
Sanchez said the 2024 event raised great funds, allowing the Mustang Mentors program to be able to do some awesome things this year. A chili feed was likewise part of the event, and she said that went quite well.
“We got cleaned out,” she said. “It was a really great event for our community since we don’t do a lot of those types of events in town. It was a great way to do something different and give back to our area.”
Sanchez said the Turkey Trot allows people to get in some exercise before taking to the mounds of food surely to be consumed on Thanksgiving Day, and she said it is a great way to kick off the holiday season.
“People are already talking about it, which is encouraging to me,” she said. “They remember it from last year, and they’re looking forward to it. People are asking if this is something they’re going to be able to keep continuing to support us in. Those things are encouraging to us because we know we’re making an impact, not just with these Mustang Mentors, but also in the community. It feels really great to have the backing of the community.”
With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, Sanchez said the excitement of the holidays is already starting to build, and the Turkey Trot just increases that excitement.
“We’re getting prepared,” she said. “We have Mustang Mentors making some decorations. We have some people who are going to volunteer to be inflatable turkeys. We’ve got advertising being pushed out by lots of people on Facebook. It’s really great to see how all of that works together.”
Sanchez said the Turkey Trot is a fundraiser, but it is through a free will donation.
“If you show up and only have a couple bucks to give, that’s okay,” she said. “If you show up and want to be generous, that’s okay too. Every last dollar we receive goes into the Mustang Mentor account. That account is housed at Plains Elementary, and all the funds in that account are used to directly impact the Mustang Mentor program. It’s its own separate account, and we’re fortunate the school houses that for us.”
Sanchez said funds are used for activities, snacks, meals and other things for use in the program.
“Unfortunately, things cost money, and if we want to have a pizza party, we’ve got to have funds for that,” she said.
The need for money for the Mustang Mentors program, particularly during the holiday season, is what Sanchez said led to the creation of the Turkey Trot.
“Unfortunately when it comes to this time of year, everybody’s being asked for money some year,” she said. “A teacher had made the comment that we ought to have a turkey trot. Mr. Mendoza, the principal at Plains Elementary, mentioned that to me, and I thought we can run with that and hopefully, we can have a good outcome. It was an idea that came from a teacher to the principal to me. From that, we took off with it. It wasn’t anything I invented.”
Part of the original Turkey Trot was the Southwestern Heights cross country team who, along with community members, came out to support the event. Sanchez said some of the community members she did not see on a regular basis.
“We had all walks of life,” she said. “We had kids who were real young and people who were much older too. It was great to see that.”
Helping with the turnout last year, Sanchez said, was a Facebook page devoted to passing the event’s information on, including a flyer about the event.
“We got lots of those area runners who like to do those 5Ks,” she said. “I was actually pretty shocked with how many people turned out for that last year, and I immediately knew that was something we needed to keep doing.”
For those wanting to participate in the Turkey Trot, Sanchez said all that is needed is a signature on a simple waiver.
“Once that’s signed, it’s go time,” she said. “The golf course is owned by the city, and they’ve given us, and they’ve given us their blessing. The club house is run by the club house board, and they’ve allowed us to utilize that free of charge. We’re grateful to their board that has allowed us to use that for this. If we had to pay for that, we would be cutting into our profits. We’re really fortunate to have that. Everything people do to support it goes a long way.”
For more information, go to www.usd483.net.
“There’s a flyer there, and that flyer’s going to give you the basic information that says it’s Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. at Plains City Golf Course,” she said. “We’re going to have chili, and we’re going to give away some turkeys. We did a drawing last year for turkeys, and we’re going to keep doing that this year. This year, we have a donor who’s going to give those turkeys out.”
Hamburger meat for the chili has been donated by Plains’s Grand Avenue Market, and Liberal Kenworth is donating three turkeys for the drawing.
With much of the supplies in place for the Turkey Trot, Sanchez said she already has a high level of excitement.
“I got my Amazon order, and in that Amazon order are the little medals we ordered that say ‘Turkey Trot,’ and we bought an inflatable turkey a volunteer’s going to wear and do some pictures with kids,” she said. “To get that stuff in was exciting. We’re really getting excited about it. The kids are going to really love it. They really enjoyed it last year, but this year, it’s going to be one of those things we’ve added more fun to. I think it’s going to be one of those annual things that gets bigger and bigger every year.”
