The annual Thanksgiving Day race, the Turkey Trot, celebrates 20 years. To accommodate the growing number of participants, the race will be moved to Downtown Grand Rapids.
It was also announced, Monday, that there will be a new partnership with the Grand Rapids Public Schools. This comes as GRPS announced seeing a significant increase in the number of students playing school sports. School officials say it's due to opening up opportunities to middle and now elementary school students.
GRPS officials say, in order to strengthen their farm system and make sure kids develop the skills they need to play at high school level, they have to start early.
"When budgets get tight, sometimes the first things looked at cutting are physical education, music and athletics," said Kurt Johnson, Executive Director for the GRPS Athletics. "Fundraisers such as this allow programs to be accessible, free for students who wouldn’t otherwise normally be able to pay to play sports.”
GRPS say it costs roughly two million dollars per year to operate their sports program, about half of which come from private donations and philanthropic efforts.
By holding the Turkey Trot Downtown, the hope is it will draw even more people to participate. If you do not want to run or walk, you can still donate to the sports department by visiting either Grand Rapids Family Credit Union location.
The Turkey Trot is November 22nd.
