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Run and Remember Event to Honor Lost Loved Ones

Provided by Lost and Found Grief Center
Participants run in the 2017 Run and Remember 5k

There's no shortage of 5K races and fun runs. But picture this:  scores of people, bound together by grief, finishing a 5K and then hoisting paper lanterns up into the night sky as a symbol of what they've lost.  KSMU's Megan Burke has details.
 

As a teacher, Kim Martin occasionally had students experience the loss of a parent. She says she was sensitive to their loss, but after a month, she'd find herself urging them to push forward. "Life goes on," she'd tell them.

Then, on Christmas of 2010, she lost her husband.

“It hit like a ton of bricks that it’s not over in a month,” Martin said.

Her daughter was seven years old.

“While you are trying to keep above water and trying to not drown in your own sorrow you are also trying to be a parent to your child and keep them from drowning in their own sorrow,” she said.

Her daughter’s school counselor referred her to Lost and Found Grief Center, a nonprofit organization in Springfield that focuses on comprehensive group therapy.

Martin said it quickly became a life-changer for her and her daughter. They participated for the next three years.

The group community allowed her to share her grief with others who had also experienced loss. She now volunteers twice a month at Lost and Found.

Since the organization does not charge for its services, Lost and Found relies on fundraisers.

Credit Provided by Lost and Found Grief Center
Kim Martin hugs her daughter at last year's annual Run and Remember ceremony while holding paper lanterns.

Karen Scott, a co-founder and the director of program development, says the annual Run and Remember is the event that most closely aligns with the nonprofit's mission.

The event will take place at Jordan Valley Park on Thursday, May 24, and it's open to the public. The 5K run and memory walk will be followed by a remembrance ceremony. At the ceremony, participants will illuminate paper lanterns with LED lights.

For more information, you can visit: www.lostandfoundozarks.com.