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Next week is a time for giving thanks, and you’re sure to see plenty of thankfulness at the Tri-Valley Turkey Burn, a 5K/10K walk/run held on Thanksgiving Day morning at Pleasanton’s Ken Mercer Sports Park.
Now in its third year, the Turkey Burn is a free, family-oriented event with charity connections for its sponsor, Pleasanton North Rotary Club (PNR).
Like past Turkey Burns, the 2017 edition will help area residents work off calories before they sit down for their big Thanksgiving meals. Attendees will be urged to bring canned and nonperishable food to donate to Open Heart Kitchen, which prepares meals for the needy, and their participation will encourage corporate sponsors to support PNR youth services for the next year.
Event organizers Ron Sutton, Kevin Greenlee and Mark Linsky are counting on this year’s Tri-Valley Turkey Burn to top last year’s success which attracted about 700 walkers and runners, collected 700 cans of food and raised over $10,000 for PNR youth programs.
In addition, the Turkey Burn earned positive reviews from runners and walkers for creative features that added to the fun. As founder of World Walk to Wellness, a Saturday morning walking program in Pleasanton, Sutton made sure the Turkey Burn emphasized good health over athletic competition.
To spice up the format, Sutton created the “I am thankful for …” Tri-Valley Turkey Burn bib. Instead of numbering each participant, the bibs are blank until participants themselves write in what they are thankful for.
The bibs are a crowd-pleaser, said Barbara Miller, a Pleasanton resident who ran with husband Scott and daughter Arin. “I saw a lot of people out there with their kids, and everyone was talking about what everybody else wrote,” she recalled.
Ali Hall, a registered nurse and health clerk at Walnut Grove Elementary School, was thankful for her husband, Tom, and three children: Arianna, 13; Andres, 10; and Armando, 8. After running the Turkey Burn, she met with friends and compared ideas about what makes Thanksgiving Day important.
“We should all take at least a moment on Thanksgiving Day to think about what we are thankful for. That is one of the little things I really enjoyed about that day and run,” she said.
Bibs last year were covered with a range of notes plus some stickers, sketches and photos expressing people’s thankfulness.
Family was a common theme, phrases like “My Family,” “Family, friends, food, freedom” and “Family, friends, good health, love and awareness.”
Other examples ranged the gamut: “So much,” “Being welcome everywhere in the world,” “My Girls, Giants, Coffee” and “The opportunity to be thankful and the moments in life that take my breath away.”
For PNR’s Greenlee, the Turkey Burn is a way to generate funds for the Foothill High School Interact Club, one of the biggest programs of its kind in Rotary District 5170, a network of 90 clubs from Oakland to Santa Cruz and up the Peninsula to Palo Alto.
With more than 7,500 Interact members, District 5170 oversees what may be the biggest Rotary Interact program in the world. The Foothill High Interact Club keeps its 70 members busy on community service projects through the school year.
The Turkey Burn also pays for scholarships for Pleasanton high school students to attend District 5170 Rotary Youth Leadership Award (RYLA) camp, a week-long summer program in Scotts Valley that builds individual confidence and leadership skills among its campers.
“At RYLA, I realized the power of my own voice,” camp graduate Mikayla Tran said. “(Afterward), I took more initiative in community service projects and applied to higher positions in Interact, things that I may not have done without RYLA.”
Each Rotary Club in District 5170 is allocated just two RYLA appointments per year, but Greenlee awarded 10 scholarships to Pleasanton students in 2017 by claiming unfilled slots from clubs outside the Tri-Valley.
With recent help from Turkey Burn funding, Greenlee has also strengthened global understanding in Pleasanton through Rotary Youth Exchange.
Since 2012, he arranged for seven Pleasanton high school students to spend a year studying abroad. He also recruited local host families for an equal number of foreign students from Brazil, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain to study at Foothill High. Money raised by the Tri-Valley Turkey Burn funds monthly allowances for the students.
Daniel Costa, a former exchange student from Brazil, said he cherished his year in Pleasanton.
“Going on the exchange is an amazing experience,” he said. “You learn a new language and culture. You meet people from all over the world and make awesome friends.”
In addition, the Turkey Burn helps fund PNR’s unique Student of the Month program and annual Richard D. King Youth Speech Contest.
Instead of honoring top academic achievers, PNR rewards students who don’t typically get deserved recognition. They are students who perform beyond expectations in ways that escape notice, Greenlee noted. The speech contest helps participating high school students develop presentation skills. The competition begins at PNR and other designated clubs and climaxes with finals at the annual District 5170 District Conference.
After Greenlee focused more attention on International Youth Exchange in 2016, retired Hewlett Packard engineer Mark Linsky stepped in to coordinate PNR’s other youth services programs.
Linsky already had considerable experience with youth services with the Saratoga Rotary Club in Santa Clara County, American Youth Soccer, Silicon Valley Junior Achievement and the Enterprise Leadership Conference (ELC), a respected business skills training program for high school juniors. At PNR, Linsky plans to grow existing youth programs and introduce ELC in the Tri-Valley.
Though these efforts serve local youth, former PNR member and East Bay educator Lee Denlinger is credited for changing how the entire 1.2 million-member Rotary International organization addresses youth services around the world.
Before Denlinger acted, Rotary International policies were guided for 82 years by four “Avenues of Services” covering club, vocational, community and international services. She insisted youth services (then called “New Generations”) should become the fifth service avenue.
After two demanding years of work, Denlinger prepared a motion for a vote in 2010 for the 525-member Rotary International Tri-Annual Council on Legislation. Council Representative Ronald P. Sekkel of District 5170 proposed enactment, and it passed by just seven votes.
Because of Denlinger’s efforts, Rotary International’s priorities have since placed youth services on an equal footing with the other avenues. “It puts youth in a very powerful position in Rotary,” Denlinger said. “It gives them greater legitimacy and more opportunities to create their own programs.”
In recognition of her historic achievement, Denlinger will serve as the Tri-Valley Turkey Burn’s official starter for the third straight year. She considers blowing the starting horn “a great thing to do on Thanksgiving,” an experience that makes her smile.
* Editor’s note: Jim Brice is a freelance writer, editor and media relations consultant. He also serves as secretary for Pleasanton North Rotary.
Feel the burn
What: Tri-Valley Turkey Burn
When: Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 23). Gate opens at 8 a.m. Guided stretches at 8:45 a.m. Walk/run starts at 9 a.m.
Where: Ken Mercer Sports Park, 5800 Parkside Drive
Registration: Free at www.trivalleyturkeyburn.org.
More: Everyone is invited to bring canned goods for Open Heart Kitchen. Coffee and cocoa will be served before the walk/run; snacks served afterward.
Corporate sponsors
The third annual Tri-Valley Turkey Burn is sponsored by Accusplit, Association Maintenance Services, Aspire Realty Services, Better Homes & Gardens Realty, Big O Tires, BRICK North California, Characterz Café and Coffee Roasterz, Christesen’s Saddlery & Western Wear, ClubSport, Common Development Management, Complete Business Systems, Cooper Sports Performance, Denali Data Systems, Fit Style, Fleet Feet, Gene’s Fine Foods, Lynn Chew Realtor, Namaste Pizza, Omni Fight Club, Prodigy Performance, Pure Barre, Rejuvenation Cryo Spa, Roberson Family, Spinal Health Chiropractic, Studio Blue Digital Printing, The Hall Family, Tri-Valley Health and Aesthetics, Tri Valley Trainer and Venture Sotheby Realty.
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Kevin Greenlee expanded Pleasanton North Rotary’s youth service programs to teach cross-cultural understanding, leadership skills and Rotary principles around “Service Above Self.” (Photo by Jim Brice) -
Pleasanton North Rotary anticipates another big turnout this Thanksgiving morning. (Photo by Jim Brice) -
Lee Denlinger, the Tri-Valley Turkey Burn’s official starter, led Rotary International to recognize the importance of youth services for its 1.2 million members. (Photo by Jim Brice) -
A 9 a.m. start for the Tri-Valley Turkey Burn means participants can burn off calories before their big Thanksgiving meals. The event will fund Rotary youth service programs for the next year. (Photo by Jim Brice) -
Turkey Burn founder and organizer Ron Sutton also created World Walk to Wellness to promote good health through moderate exercise. (Photo by Jim Brice) -
To celebrate Thanksgiving Day, Turkey Burn runners and walkers share what they’re thankful for on their race bibs. (Photo by Jim Brice)
