Racing for charity: Springville 5K aims to raise money for Ugandan school
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- Children at The Mugiti Home of Good Hope School and Orphanage in Uganda are pictured in an undated photo.
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- Children at The Mugiti Home of Good Hope School and Orphanage in Uganda are pictured in an undated photo.
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- Children at The Mugiti Home of Good Hope School and Orphanage in Uganda are pictured in an undated photo.
A local family is inviting Utah Valley residents to step into their running shoes Saturday morning and race for a cause close to their hearts.
Provo native Angie Atkinson Whittemore and her husband, Ajay, are founders of the Mugiti Good Hope Foundation, which supports the Mugiti Home of Good Hope School and Orphanage in Uganda.
The Whittemores, with the help of Adam Allen, their brother-in-law, will hold the first annual “Run for Mugiti” charity 5K at 9 a.m. Saturday at Memorial Park in Springville.
Whittemore said all proceeds will go toward the school and orphanage, which provide basic necessities and educational resources to more than 500 children.
“The race, we hope, is just an opportunity for the community to get together and get behind a good cause,” she said.
Whittemore said the school was founded by Dan Dambirenza in 2013. Whittemore met Dambirenza through Khali Goddard, her close friend who she said has spent a lot of time at the school and who introduced Whittemore to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Whittemore has been impressed with the good the school has done and decided she wanted to help.
“(Goddard) told me about (Dambirenza), and I just was compelled to contact him and see if we could offer a little help,” Whittemore said. “And we’ve since had a friendship, have had many phone calls, video calls. He’s given us a tour of the orphanage. We’ve met a lot of the kids. And so my husband was like, ‘Let’s just start a foundation and try to raise some money for this orphanage.'”
Whittemore said Mugiti faces poverty and alcoholism issues and that Dambirenza has fed children, housed orphans and taught them skills such as tailoring and gardening.
The school’s demand, however, has exceeded its space, she said, and they’re seeking to build four additional classrooms to house all the children — especially during the rainy season.
“They really can’t have class outside — because they tried to and had tents — but it’s just ideal to have an actual classroom, so we’re trying to get that,” Whittemore said.
The first 200 people who sign up for Saturday’s race will receive a free hat and swag bag provided by local sponsors.
Whittemore said 65 people had signed up as of Thursday afternoon. The 5K is $32.80 for adults and $28.56 for children ages 4-12, including fees, and the one-mile race is $24.32 for adults and $19.02 for children.
