Marathon Runners Raise Money for BMC
Karen Hawley (MED’08) is running the Boston Marathon as a member of Team BMC
Not everyone running the 112th Boston Marathon is looking for money or for glory. On Monday, April 21, 35 people will run as part of Team BMC, to raise money for Boston Medical Center’s programs for the poor and the under- or uninsured. Among the programs the team’s proceeds support are the Kids Fund, the Cancer Support Services Fund, the Preventive Food Pantry and Demonstration Kitchen, and Nutrition and Fitness for Life — programs whose survival otherwise would be in doubt. The 2007 team raised more than $200,000 for these critical BMC services, and the 2008 team hopes to top that by bringing in more than $300,000. During the last stretch of marathon-training season, BU Today profiles some of the students, faculty, and staff on Team BMC.
Karen Hawley (MED’08) has run two marathons in the last three years, but the flat roads of Chicago, Ill., and Nashville, Tenn., did not prepare her for Heartbreak Hill — the final hill of the marathon, a half-mile ascent just over five miles from the finish line.
“The course is a lot harder than the other marathons I’ve run,” says Hawley. A Boston resident for the last four years, she sees this marathon as a way to be a part of the “nostalgia” of the city while raising money for the institution that has contributed to her education.
“BMC has really shaped who I want to be as a physician and taught me what it means to really care for patients first,” Hawley says. “I feel like it really reaches out to people who are underserved, so I just wanted to give back.”
To sponsor Hawley or other members of Team BMC, click here.
Rebecca McNamara can be reached at ramc@bu.edu.
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