“I believed St. Patrick’s Day was the best day. My maiden identify is Kelly. My final identify is O’Keefe. So I believed it was the best time for a race, ”stated O’Keefe.

So she received concerned in organizing the Shamrock Shuffle 5K run / stroll for the good thing about Ave Maria, who has campuses on the former St. Thomas Extra Faculty in Bethel Park and St. Bernard Faculty in Mt. Lebanon.

For well being causes, the occasion featured smaller teams in numerous places as a substitute of everybody coming collectively in a single location.

For instance, Janelle D’Eramo, one other mother from Ave Maria Academy, invited a gaggle to Ripepi Vineyard in Carroll Township, the household enterprise the place she is chargeable for occasions.

That is the place Higher St. Clair residents Katie and husband Bernie took their third yr daughters Kelly and Elly, Bubba and younger Joey, becoming a member of different runners and walkers on a latest Sunday after- scorching and sunny noon.

Shamrock Shuffle’s places, nonetheless, weren’t solely restricted to the varsity’s relative proximity. Katie had an thought to extend participation within the occasion.

“What if we attempt to discover somebody in all 50 states,” she stated.

That is how efforts for the Ave Maria Academy Runs Throughout America started, with Katie getting lots of assist, particularly from her buddy Natalie Podkul.

“She received a printed model of a map and a highlighter pen, and we began highlighting every state and sharing it on social media. And we have now all 50 states, plus three international locations, ”Katie stated.

Greater than 750 individuals registered to journey 5 kilometers at completely different paces, most sporting inexperienced t-shirts produced for the occasion.

“What’s actually cool is we despatched out all of their packages and their shirts, and we despatched out indicators that say ‘AMA Runs’ and so they wrote of their statements,” Katie stated. “So we have now dozens of individuals posting on our Shamrock Shuffle web page in Alaska, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.”

She thanked the occasion sponsors and donors, who coated the price of the shirts and supplied a wide range of presents and raffle objects. Because of their generosity, 100% of the income from the race, or greater than $ 20,000, can be utilized to help the varsity.