The 6th Annual Community Fun & Fitness Relays (CFFR), held Sunday, May 5th, 2024, were blessed with good weather, great volunteers and enthusiastic competitors and spectators! Again, we were hosted by Carbondale Community Community High School (CCHS) at their Track & Field Complex. CCHS staffers Gwen Poore and Olivia Clark-Kittleson were instrumental in making sure our participants and spectators had a great experience. Additionally, students and staff from the CCHS Track and Field team volunteered well, along with a number of other steadfast volunteers who helped make it a great experience for all.  ​ Our other major sponsors, in addition to CCHS, included the Carbondale Park District (CPD) and Southern Illinois Health (SIH).  CPD provided volunteers, water coolers, CPR/AED coverage as well as insurance coverage for the event.  SIH support helped us purchase supplies needed for the meet.  These major sponsors made it possible for us to put on a first-class event for our community participants and make significant donations to our charities. We also had several very generous individual donors this year, which will allow us to provide even more assistance to our beneficiaries.  ​ Again, one of our two beneficiaries this year is NubAbility, a DuQuoin-based organization that provides athletic opportunities for limb-different youngsters from all over the country to work with limb-different coaches in a variety of sports. Julie Grosse, the Business Director for NubAbility, was on hand on Race Day to help with registration and provide goodie bags for participants among other duties. NubAbility Founder Sam Kuhnert also joined us to cheer on participants on Race Day. Our other beneficiary this year is Beacon House in Ghana, which helps children and families who are in need. The non-profit organization has been working diligently to construct a K-12 school in Ghana to educate and provide scholarships for underprivileged youth there whose future prospects would otherwise be bleak.   ​ Last year, we added a Senior 4 x 100 relay and a senior mile walk, which again saw good participation this year. This year, we introduced Senior divisions in the shot put, long jump, and 100-meter dash, in which we anticipate greater participation at next year’s CFFR. ​ Race results and photos (courtesy of photographer Joe Garrett) are available at the results and photos links on this website.  Thank you, again, to everyone who took part and to the individuals below who were instrumental to the meet’s success this year.  Kathy Hollister – Clerk of Course  Art Ashbrook — Race Starter  Dave McKenzie – Meet Announcer  Joe Garrett — Photographer Jocelyn Lin  — National Anthem  Christopher, IL, Scout Troop – Opening Flag Ceremony  Clair Hayes and Dianah McGreehan – Registration  Julie Grosse – Pre-Registration & Results Coordinator  Brehm Prep School Parent Association & Be the Change Club students – Concessions  Ron Rogers and Mary Beth Goff – Long Jump  Henry Harsy — Shot Put  CPD Volunteers — Ryan, Sophia, & Taylor ​ Since nearly the beginning of our work on CFFR, we have partnered with SIU students from the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) to handle our social media, flyer design and website marketing efforts.  These students worked with us to develop a social media calendar, draft press releases and post our event on Facebook and Instagram.   This year's PRSSA partners were:  Kendra Gregory, Josie King, Bella Colonna. Thanks for all your hard work on the CFFR!  Past PRSSA partners include: 2023  Alexis Parchman, Ashlyn Ege, Carter Walton 2022  Tadzia Lee 2021  CFFR Cancelled Due to COVID 2020  CFFR Cancelled Due to COVID 2019  Haven Thompson 2018  Hannah Colbrook