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Nearly 300 turn out for autism awareness benefit

Daily Item - 1/5/2020

Jan. 5--MIFFLINBURG -- A benefit run supporting autism charities and initiatives drew its largest crowd yet to R.B. Winter State Park.

A combined 289 runners registered for the 7th annual CJ's Resolution Challenge on Saturday in Union County -- 278 in-person plus 11 others who pledged to run on their own.

Janell Weaver of Lewisburg first organized the run in 2014 in honor of her then 4-year-old son, CJ, now 10. The inaugural event drew 70 runners.

"I am overjoyed every year. Some of the guys are here from the first year. They said, 'Remember that first year, you thought no one would come?' I thought no one was going to show up. Year after year, people keep coming," Weaver said.

The trail loop for this year's run measured at 1.5 miles. There were two different races.

The first, RC Revolutions, challenged runners to complete as many laps as they'd like within three hours.

The other race was The Last Man Standing, an elimination challenge. Runners complete their first lap in under 20 minutes. The time limit dips by 1 minute each lap afterward. Runners attempting a 12th loop would need to be at a 6-minute-mile pace.

CJ's Resolution Challenge rotates beneficiaries. Past recipients include Autism Diagnostic Evaluations Resources Services of Lewisburg and Geisinger Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute.

The beneficiary for 2020 is Autism and Behavior Resources of Danville. Erin Demcher, the company's founder, said funds from CJ's Resolution Challenge would be used to create sensory boxes for special needs children. The boxes will be packed with headphones, communication boards, fidget spinners, squeeze balls, marble mazes.

Demcher said the sensory boxes would be donated to ambulance services, fire stations and police departments. The boxes are meant to be stored on emergency vehicles in the event first responders encounter a special needs child at an emergency like a car accident or fire.

"It could be really scary sitting on an ambulance with or without your parents, so having that as something to keep your mind going is pretty helpful," Demcher said.

Among the runners were Kate Dent, of Berwick, and her mother, Jenny. Kate works with Geisinger Autism & Developmental Medicine Institute. Her brother, Jenny's son, is autistic. They dressed for the race in his favorite colors: Jenny in blue and Kate in green.

"Janell likes to pay it forward to different local services and therapies. I think that's really important to bring awareness that they need financial support in order to help out these kids," Kate said.

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