The Student Welfare Commission will host the fourth annual 5K
UCLA Run/Walk this Sunday to benefit the Child Life/Child
Development program at the Mattel Children’s Hospital.
The route of the run/walk begins in Bruin Plaza and cuts through
North and South campus.
The event will feature a silent auction and live bands, said
UCLA Run/Walk co-director Aileen Chui. Guest speakers will include
families of patients at the hospital and Deidre Hall, a female
actor on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” she
added.
This year, event organizers are expecting 2,000 participants.
Unlike past years, organizers this year advertised the event in
different parts of Los Angeles in an effort to attract the
participation of a broader portion of the L.A. community.
“It’s pretty balanced ““ half and half students
and people in the L.A. community,” Chui said. “Before
it’s mainly been a student thing, but we have a lot more
resources now and … we wanted it to be a bigger event.”
Both Chui and co-director Chris Chyu estimated that this
year’s run/walk will raise upwards of $30,000 ““ $10,000
more than last year’s total. Chyu put this year’s
estimate at $40,000 to $50,000.
The child life and child development program benefiting from
funds the event raises provides play therapy and playrooms for kids
staying at the Mattel Children’s Hospital.
Chui said the money raised by the run/walk is crucial to the
program’s success, which is “on the bottom of the
priority list” of programs to receive funding from the
hospital.
“I know exactly where the money goes and I see a need for
it,” Chyu said.
Ginger Osman ““ executive administrator for the department
of pediatrics at the Mattel Children’s Hospital ““ said
he donated to the run/walk this year because the child life and
development program is vital to the children’s quality of
life during their hospital stays.
The money raised from the run/walk can be used by the program in
a number of ways, including buying a new VCR or hiring child
specialists, Osman said.
“Child specialists are just very creative people,”
Osman said. “They’re not the nurses or the doctors.
They’re the ones that really provide that safety net
environment … I can’t imagine a hospital without a child
life program.”
Rucha Gadgil is on the run/walk inreach and decoration
committees, and said participating in run/walk was a way for her to
get involved on campus.
“I knew it is for pediatrics, and I love kids and just
wanted to get involved … make their time a little more
pleasant,” Gadgil said.
To register, visit www.uclarunwalk.org or visit Niketown on
Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills this Saturday between 10 a.m.
and 5 p.m.