A fundraising event will be held in Adel to help families with early childhood loss and provide life saving equipment to a local high school.
The 14th annual John’s Baby Steps 5k Race, Mile Memory Walk and Kids Fun Run will start early at 8am in Kinnick-Feller Park on Saturday. Organizer Jessica Gomke says that this event was started because their son died at the age of 33 days old. Gomke explains the mission of the charity event is to honor Angel Babies and raise funds to help prevent and cope with infant and young child loss.
“We really want to promote that. It’s not taboo that we want to hear. Families want to hear their babies’ names said so. Saying their names. We invite families to come together. We usually have a memory balloon to say sure, it will be a lantern rerelease.”
Gomke also mentions that a portion of the money will go towards donating defibrillators (AED) to Adel-DeSoto-Minburn School District. She says that her son did not have a heart condition but this is a way to touch more lives.
“If something were to ever happen at a school or a school event, a defibrillator is there because they show that CPR is 30-percent effective without a defibrillator when it’s a heart condition. So if anyone ever were to go down, we want to make sure that that is there for them. And we.”
Gomke says they have already donated 54 defibrillators in 10 central Iowa schools. Registration is open until the day of the event and the fee is $30. For more about registering for the event visit the link provided.