The Mother’s Day Dash on Sunday, May 13th in Shelton, WA hosted by the Conklin family raised nearly $5,000 in the fight against ovarian cancer. The Dash is a 4 mile run/walk community fundraising event for the Swedish SummeRun & Walk to benefit the Rivkin Center.
The Conklin’s are longtime supporters of the SummeRun and participate each year in honor of Shelby Conklin, an ovarian cancer survivor. Shelby was the 2017 SummeRun Honoree, 20 years after her original diagnosis.
“Our family continues to raise money with the goal of offering hope for the eradication of this heinous disease, so that no other woman and her family will have to go through it,” Shelby said.
Shelby first heard of the SummeRun when she saw a flyer in the Pacific Gynecology Specialists office during her first round of treatment in 1997. She and her family participated in the event, and have since made their involvement an annual family tradition.
In 2010, the Conklin family took their fundraising efforts to the next level! Shelby’s daughter, Krisy, had begun running a lot of 5K races, and as a result, came up with the idea of the Mother’s Day Dash. With the help of her brother-in-law, who had experience managing running events, Shelby and her family hosted the first Mother’s Day Dash in their hometown of Shelton, WA. The annual event has raised thousands of dollars for the Rivkin Center.
Thank you to Shelby and the entire Conklin family for being great supporters in the fight against ovarian cancer. The Conklin’s also have another fundraising event planned for later this month, their Save the Eggs Cocktail Party, to raise more funds for the Rivkin Center. These types of community fundraising events make tremendous impact and are a fun way to create a community of supporters.