Oak Park School never had a very big PTO, and the elaborate fundraisers common at some other schools are out of the question.
Most parents at Sarasota’s school for students with disabilities spend so much time taking care of their children’s most basic needs there is little energy left for extra activities. And some of their budgets are too stretched paying for therapies and medical care to make a donation. “When their kids get off the bus, they’re feeding, they’re toileting and they’re bathing,” said Robyn Sadlo, a speech therapist. “Our parents can’t participate the way parents at other schools can.” At the start of the school year, the parent organization had about $100 in its budget. Sadlo made it her mission to find some way to raise money for the school, forfeiting time working with her daughter’s PTO to take over the one at Oak Park. Around the same time Sadlo took over the group, parent Ricardo Lomas was looking for some help with his own project. Lomas wanted to host a charity run in honor of his son Sammy, a student at Oak Park. He just needed some help getting it going. So Lomas and his wife partnered with the school, got the Manasota Track Club involved and the idea for a race took off. Going into it, Lomas thought he would be lucky to have about 100 people participate.
There are already 500 people signed up to participate this weekend. The planners expect even more by the day of the race.