This year’s fundraising event for Play for Peace went glowingly. With a newly certified course and a fun new glow aspect thrown in, there was a lot to look forward to at this year’s World Peace Day Glow Run/Walk 5k. The event took place as it usually does at the Bartlett Nature Center. Runners, supplied with glow sticks and glow bands galore, ran the beautiful tri-county Bartlett Nature Center course at dusk on September 22, 2017. The event was full of fun, family-friendly activities. Face painting, henna tattoos, rock painting, pumpkin decorating, and all sorts of other crafts and games were enjoyed by many before the race.
There was even the chance to get up close and personal with some reptiles! 
As in previous years, participants enjoyed the usual fare of exotic cuisine at the ever-popular International Food Festival. Various food sponsors supplied participants with a range of food from Indian food to hotdogs! All throughout the evening, guests could browse items at the Silent Auction. The event ended with a campfire where s'mores and hot chocolate were devoured.
Play for Peace would like to extend some congratulations to this year’s top male and female race winners. David Kingman came in first overall with a 20:44 finish averaging 6:41 minutes per mile. Our top female finisher was Christine Dunphy with a 28:25 finish time averaging 9:09 minutes per mile. We also would like to recognize our top male and female youth finishers. Lily Ende, 12, finished with a time of 27:43 averaging 8:56 minutes per mile, and Dylan Kirsten, 12, finished with a time of 27:55 averaging 9:00 minutes per mile. All race results can be found here. At this year’s World Peace Day celebration, the Play for Peace Board of Directors awarded Richard Rutschman with the Play for Peace Founders Award in appreciation of Richard’s dedication and contributions to serving as a pillar of the Play for Peace Community. For the past 20 years, Richard has organized and hosted weekend Play for Peace Camps, training workshops, and activities. He has been an incredible role model within the Play for Peace community, but through his work, Richard has trained and brought more members into the Play for Peace community.
Thank you Richard for your service and high spirits throughout the past 20 years! This year’s event raised more than $33.5 K, and we are still fundraising. It was an incredible event, and the Play for Peace community looks forward to doing it again next year!
