US – Omaha & Council Bluffs RRT Assists At Jingle Bell Run

At 6:00am on the brisk Saturday morning of December 12^th, 2015, RRT Omaha and Council Bluffs gathered at the Strategic Air Command Museum to assist the annual Jingle Bell Run for the Arthritis Foundation. This was a smaller Jingle Bell Run event compared to other areas, with only about 200 runner/walkers.

And they’re off – Nebraska participants in the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis

Arthritis is an informal name in reference to more than 100 types of joint diseases.  The Arthritis Foundation works with science to find a cure for this disease that inflicts over 53 million adults and 300,000 children in American.

Setting up refreshments for the runners when they returned

RRT volunteers from Omaha and Council Bluffs helped set up for the event in one of the aircraft hangers. There were Christmas decorations to be hung and tables to be assembled for the meal being served after the run.  RRT provided the two water stations along the route which served water, coffee, fruit, and energy bars to the runners. A few RRT volunteers also acted as parking lot attendants and crossing guards at all crosswalks.

The Set Up in the Aircraft Hangar One of the water stations along the route Approximately 200 participants took part in the event

The run started at 9:00am and lasted until about 10:30am. The route started at SAC Museum’s parking lot and went out onto Highway 66 and into Mahoney State Park following the trail around and ended back in the SAC Museum parking lot.  Although the route was 5K course, many of the runners ran it twice to get the 10K experience. The winner was a 21 year-old man with a time of just over 36 minutes.

RRT Volunteers

After a quick meal for runners we commenced clean-up and the event was wrapped up around noon. Thanks everyone for the donations of water, food and time!