400 miles and lots of goodwill for Community Action
Brett Sobieraski and team of runners complete 1,600 laps at local tracks in past 8 days, raising $25,000 for Community Action
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – Brett Sobieraski holds the American flag high while leading a pack of runners around the Albion High School track this morning in the final lap of an 8-day, 400-mile benefit for Community Action of Orleans & Genesee.
Renee Hungerford, the Community Action chief executive officer, is next to Sobieraski for the final lap. She sang the national anthem right before the final, celebratory 400 meters.
Sobieraski is a retired Rochester police sergeant. He lives in Carlton. He has done endurance challenges before to raise money for fallen police officers and the Special Olympics. This time he wanted to help Community Action, an agency he said serves local residents in many different ways, He set a $20,000 fundraising goal. By the end of the run at 11 a.m., the fundraising was at $25,000.
Sobieraski, 60, has been mostly sidelined the past three days due to severe blisters and an infection in his feet. He thanked other runners for stepping up and wearing his watch that records the laps and distance. He completed more than 275 miles of challenge himself.
Hungerford said that similar to what happens at Community Action, with the agency assisting people through challenges. Community Action is facing a $900,000 cut to the Head Start program, but Hungerford said the agency will persevere.
Jaxon Francis is ahead of Tanner Beecher and other members of the Albion youth football team which came out to do a few laps around the track today.
Jeff Atwell (left), manager of weatherization for Community Action, walks around the track with Jim Babcock, who recently had back surgery. Babcock completed more than a mile both Friday in Holley and today in Albion.
Brett Sobieraski hugs Todd Arnold after he ran for about an hour and half this morning.
Orleans County District Attorney Susan Howard walks with Sobieraski around the track this morning. Sobieraski works as an investigator with the Orleans County major Felony Crimes Task Force, which Howard oversees.
