A new Halloween-themed 3k “fun run” is coming to one of Philadelphia’s most historic cemeteries.
The Run4UrLife race will take place 7 p.m. Oct. 30 at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, 215 Belmont Ave. in Bala Cynwyd.
All proceeds will directly benefit Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutritonal Alliance, a free-of-charge meal delivery and nutrition-counseling organization that serves the greater Philadelphia and southern New Jersey area.
The event is being made possible through a large-scale collaboration among community business leaders. Rob Saxon, director of external affairs for MANNA, said the idea for the run arose from a casual conversation he had with fellow Independence Business Alliance members at a meeting in July.
“I was at an IBA business meeting at Comcast in July and was talking with Deborah Cassidy, director of sales, marketing and family service for West Laurel Hill Cemetery, and Gavin McKay, owner and founder of Unite Fitness,” Saxon said. “We wanted to get into a run for a while. And we were joking, ‘What if we ran through the cemetery and were chased by terrifying people?’”
While the fundraising is the main element, Saxon said, the truly amazing thing about this event is how it brought the Philadelphia business community together.
“There are so many organizations that have come together to make this possible. Comcast is running a PSA for us. Chatterblast is managing social media. Tag strategies is doing web design. Sage is handling PR. Gabello Studios produced our 30-second promo video, which is being aired on NBC10. MAC Cosmetics is doing the makeup for our volunteer scare people. Halloween Revolution donated costumes for them. All of this work was done at no charge to MANNA — it’s incredible.”
The event will feature ghouls and terrifying creatures jumping out from behind tombstones and chasing runners as participants make their way through the course.
It is an all-ages event. Registration begins at 6 p.m. and costs $30, which includes a Run4UrLife T-shirt. Costumes are encouraged.
For more information or to register, visit www.mannapa.org/run4urlife.