89 bags of 25 shoes each…2,225 pairs of shoes left the Crossville High School Wednesday thanks to the efforts of Trish Pringle and her Relay for Life team, the Crossville Walk ‘n Rollers. Trish says her goal with the fundraiser was to find something that was less work, more money and didn’t necessarily cost anything for the public to get involved or donate to. She found the organization they partnered with (headquartered out of Florida) online. Pringle explains…
“I thought, ‘this is too good to be true.’ So we checked it out and sure enough they’re giving us 40 cents a pound for every shoe we bring in and then the money goes (I don’t even see the check) straight to the American Cancer Society and they will notify our team how much we made.”
Trish is a central figure in not only this fundraiser but several efforts and in spite of her importance, she’s quick to share the credit.
“We’ve had all these businesses step up and take boxes and put in their stores. The bank here has been fantastic. Claudia Parsons at First-Mid has been fantastic. Steve Knight has taken over Grayville and Albion and brought me three truck loads and all that kind of stuff. It’s just been a whole county-wide, town-wide pitch-in from everybody. People call me at night and say, ‘Hey we’ve got four or five bags for you,’ and stuff like that. So it’s brought people together for a good cause.”
None deserve more credit however than probably her husband and partner in crime, Jerry. She tells me he gets drafted for everything and helps with all her projects even while recovering from a broken ankle. She’s no stranger to community involvement and it extends back to her teaching years and also currently includes her next effort, the April 4th Dodgeball Tournament she’s currently working on now.
“David Rider and his family are helping me now because our team has dwindled a little bit. So he’s picked up a lot of the slack. You have to have 6 to 10 members. It’s $75 a team and we go with the juniors from 14-18, adult men and adult women or a mixed team, whatever you want to do. We have the packets ready. All you have to do is contact myself or David Rider and all this stuff, this information, is on facebook.”
Find additional details on the Walk ‘n Rollers on their facebook page. Find details on the Dodgeball Tournament on our website at wrul.com.
