This year, after Thanksgiving, if you feel like you need to run off some of that turkey weight, a group of seniors at Boyle County will give you the opportunity to do so — and do it for a great cause.

Seniors on the Rebels baseball team, Grant Hotchkiss and Colin Carver are members of a senior life group at Southland Christian Church. This year, the church is giving back to children at Woodlawn Elementary School who would go without for Christmas. Due to limitations, the church would not be able to help every kid and that’s where Hotchkiss and Carver step in.

“Our group wanted to pick up as many kids as we could,” Hotchkiss said. “So we started a GoFundMe and are organizing a 5K to raise money to give to Southland so they can take care of more families than they could have.”

Carver has taken the reigns on the 5K, pulling from inspiration from his time at Garrard County.

“That’s what we did for fundraising there. They weren’t as successful there, but everybody runs in Boyle County,” he said. “I figured a 5K would be easy to start up, have a low cost and hopefully we get a big return.”

Hotchkiss, meanwhile, is managing the GoFundMe, which has already raised over $1,500.

“We can’t get to everybody to collect money, so it’s just an online payment. It’ll get transferred to Southland. Everything will go right to the kids and their families,” he said. “We’re accepting money donations, toy donations. We just have to make sure those are new because we don’t want to be giving away used toys. 

“The GoFundMe’s been really successful. We’ve had some bigger donations, but I think people think they need to give big. But even a dollar or two — it adds up super fast.”

Hotchkiss said that it was the reality that kids in his own community wouldn’t be having a Christmas is what led him and the other members of his life group to rise to the occasion.

“I know children all over America don’t get Christmas — but when it was brought up that children in Boyle County and in the same school system as us won’t be getting Christmas, that’s what hit us the hardest,” he said. “It hit us at home and we just thought we could do something to help. Even if it’s just one family. But as we thought about it, we realized we could help out as many families as we can.

“It’s not to make us feel good,” he added. “Christmas is about joy. It’s not so much about toys and all that. It’s more so about making sure children are brought joy. We don’t need Christmas, our life group doesn’t need Christmas but to see children without a smile on their face on Christmas, that’s where we knew we wanted to help.”

On Saturday, Nov 30 at 2 p.m., runners in the Christmas Joy Fun Run will get a t-shirt and will race for prizes. There will also be a DJ. The event is $25 to sign up, and to do so, you can reach out to Grant Hotchkiss on Twitter @GrantHotchkiss or — if you find one of the fliers around town — use your phone to scan the QR code on the bottom to sign up.

The GoFundMe can be found at gofundme.com/f/boyle-community-christmas-for-kids.

As Hotchkiss says, “This is for the children who won’t be receiving. We’re giving up something to see joy on their faces.”