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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Observer

Cavanaugh Hall hosts Ready Set Glow Fun Run

Cavanaugh Hall is hosting its second annual Ready Set Glow Fun Run Thursday. The run, which follows a two-mile course around campus, will start at 8 p.m. at Fieldhouse Mall.

“It’s a fun run, so everyone is encouraged to do of their best ability and then at the end we have glow powder and glow lights, and it really just turns into a fun Cav celebration/dance party,” junior Brittany Benninger, one of the organizers for the event, said.

Benninger said registration for the event is $10, and participants can register online with Student Shop or at the dining halls this week, or at 7:30 p.m. before the race.

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Photo courtesy of Hannah Bruening
Cavanaugh Hall prepares for its second annual Ready Set Glow Fun Run, where it raises funds for the Visitation Maternity Ward at Brother Andrew Medical Center in the Dandora area of Nairobi, Kenya. Last year, the event raised over $500.


Proceeds from the event benefit the Visitation Maternity Ward at Brother Andre Medical Center in the Dandora area of Nairobi, Kenya. Fr. Bob Dowd, an associate professor of political science and director of the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity, is a resident in Cavanaugh and helped found the ward last year.

“Dandora is a very tough place, underserved,” he said. “The health facilities in Dandora are substandard. It’s a place where there is a great deal of poverty, lack of decent healthcare. The city dump site for all of Nairobi is located in Dandora, so it affects the quality of life for everyone in the area.”

Last year’s race raised just over $500, and Benninger said this year’s goal is to raise $1,300. Dowd said the maternity ward must cover the costs of delivering the babies, which is $50 for a regular delivery and $200 for a Caesarean section.

“The support that Cavanaugh is generating is really important because we struggle to make ends meet at the maternity ward, because the costs far exceed the revenue,” Dowd said. “We’re always trying to find new ways of closing the gap between costs and revenue to ensure that women are getting the skilled and compassionate care that they need, that their dignity really demands.”

The nearest maternity hospital is an hour away from Dandora, and Dowd said many women would give birth at home if the maternity ward did not exist, which can be risky.

“If you were to see the surroundings, you would see the risks — the lack of decent sanitation,” he said.

Benninger said the goals of the maternity ward align nicely with Cavanaugh’s values, which is why the dorm chooses to support the maternity ward.

“The resemblance of our community of women coming together to empower each other really goes hand in hand with the maternity ward’s mission of empowering women,” she said. “We see our community as being able to support these women and empowering them to bring the vision that we want to see to the world.”

Dowd said the run is an opportunity to support human dignity in Kenya.

“It’s about women and children, it’s about life at it’s beginning, it’s about human dignity, and I think that’s something to keep in mind — essentially, the run will be about human dignity,” he said.