Sarasota nonprofit Bridge a Life holds Super Hero 5K Race and Fun Run focused on foster care
Race in Benderson Park also way to bring attention to foster care and adoption needs
UNIVERSITY PARK -- Booker High School student Amanda Baxter says she's excited and blessed to have the most supportive adoptive parents.
The Sarasota teenager, adopted at the tender age of 6 after her primary caregivers -- her grandparents -- passed away, is trying to raise awareness about the sizable number of foster children living in Sarasota, Manatee and Desoto counties.
To highlight National Foster Care Awareness month in May, Baxter, her family, and many others will take part in the fourth annual Super Hero 5K Race and Fun Run on Saturday, May 9, at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota.
Bridge a Life, a Sarasota nonprofit organization that supports foster and adoptive families, including Amanda and her family, is hosting the family friendly event with more than 20 sponsors.
Some 500 runners are expected to join either the 1-mile Fun Run, which begins at 8:30 a.m., or the chip-timed official 5K Race at 9 a.m.
After the races, families can stay for face painting, corn hole, hula hoop games, music and pictures with their favorite super heroes.
"We want young families to come and get the community more aware of foster care and what it actually means," Baxter said.
The Super Hero 5K Race is a different way to acknowledge more than 1,300 children in local foster care seeking safe homes and stable family environments.
Families interested in fostering or adoption will have an opportunity to gather information, ask questions and hear life-altering stories from children who have successfully emerged from the system.
Register online at 5KHero.com.
Information: bridgealife.com.
Kathryn Moschella, Lakewood Ranch reporter can be reached at 941-745-7010. Follow her on Twitter@MoschellaHerald.
This story was originally published April 13, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Sarasota nonprofit Bridge a Life holds Super Hero 5K Race and Fun Run focused on foster care ."