Wilkes University Running Club Raised $1,800 with Relay for Heat Event To Help Ease Home Heating Crisis

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WILKES-BARRE, PA (05/02/2018) Contact information: Gabrielle D'Amico, director of communications, gabrielle.damico@wilkes.edu, 570-408-4510

The Wilkes University Running Club raised $1,800 at its annual 100-mile Relay for Heat to assist local families with their heating bills. All proceeds were given to the Commission for Economic Opportunity (CEO) Martin Luther King Fuel Fund and used exclusively to avert home heating crises.

The event, held in February, started at the top of the dikes on the Kingston side of the Susquehanna River. Every runner ran a four-mile leg of the relay until the 100 miles was covered. The first four-mile leg started at the two-mile marker on the dikes in Kirby Park and turned around at the zero-mile marker in Kingston.

CAPTION: From left, Dave Ritter, director of Housing Counseling - ‎Commission on Economic Opportunity, receives the check for $1,800 from running club president Franco Balbuena of Wilkes-Barre, Pa., along with William Terzaghi, biology professor and advisor, and Kevin Kachurak of Macungie, Pa., running club treasurer.

About Wilkes University:

Wilkes University is an independent institution of higher education dedicated to academic and intellectual excellence through mentoring in the liberal arts, sciences and professional programs. Founded in 1933, the university is on a mission to create one of the great small universities, offering all of the programs, activities and opportunities of a large, research university in the intimate, caring and mentoring environment of a small, liberal arts college, at a cost that is increasingly competitive with public universities. The Economist named Wilkes 25th in the nation for the value of its education for graduates. In addition to 43 bachelor's degree programs, Wilkes offers 25 master's degree programs and five doctoral/terminal degree programs, including the doctor of philosophy in nursing, doctor of nursing practice, doctor of education, doctor of pharmacy, and master of fine arts in creative writing. Learn more at www.wilkes.edu.