Gina Woodard

“Some of these kids are in my class and I love the idea of ‘if you’re not sure what to do, include people’ and that’s kind of what tonight is about and I love that. I love watching all kids come together for something that’s really positive like this. It’s hard not to think this night is just one of the greatest of the year. You see tonight that some of the kids are out there and they’re wearing capes. [Cross country] is doing a little [event] kind of like this but with running so the Tiny Superheroes plus Kirkwood Cross Country [are partnering for an event]. [For one meet] we have the bubble bus coming and instead of the [special needs kids] playing football, after our varsity runs and the JV runs, we get all of the athletes from all of the schools, we line up the finish area and then the kids will run through the last 100 meters of the race. I just think its a good night to support. The person from Tiny Superheroes is here and she used to be a runner for KHS and so that’s why we tried to do something together this year. This [event] is a great way to reach parents to let them know about what our event is about as well. Every year we try to build upon what other people have done like the football deal here and [you think] how do you kind of replicate that but for running or cross country. So we’ve had kids in wheelchairs wheel down the finish line and we’ve had parents carry their kids and we’ve had kids walk or run down themselves. We’re not doing it for a public response but I think the kids who are apart of it enjoy it and as long as they enjoy it we’ll keep doing it.”