Giving back
Uniontown cross country team continues relationship Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children
Submitted photo
The Uniontown cross country team has been winners on the course the last 25 years, but its longtime head coach, Joe Everhart, expects his runners to be winners off the course as well.
The Red Raiders have had county, WPIAL and state placewinners the last two-and-a-half decades, but no team activity is more important than the team’s annual trip to the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children (WPSBC) in Pittsburgh.
Everhart’s squad also takes part in activities that help the WPSBC, which has become more prevalent in recent years due to the team not being able to have as much interaction with the students.
“There are a lot of privacy issues now,” Everhart said. “They used to allow us to take pictures and do videos, but we can’t do that now. We want our kids to realize that things we take for granted, like running, is a challenge for these kids. It is pretty amazing what these kids do.”
Scheduling conflicts hindered this year’s trip, but Everhart hopes the team can return to the school next season, if not before.
“We are still going to see if maybe we can do something later in the year,” Everhart said. “Our season was over before we could make any plans to get down there. We had a lot more meets than we usually have.
“We are going to have to set a date earlier to make sure we can get it back up and going next year. The school also has students who are facing challenges beyond just being blind, which makes everyone adjust.”
In addition to visiting the school, Uniontown provides a donation to the WPSBC following the Chef Joe’s Omelet Run in late June. The team helps to work the event and half of the proceeds from the race go to the WPSBC. The event was created by local distance runner and cross country coach Joe Carei, who is also a chef.
“I want to thank Joe Carei for allowing us to make some money,” Everhart said. “He does all the omelets. There are not too many races where you can get an omelet after.”
The event also features the Joe Thomas Mile run, which is in honor of the former Red Raider who was a two-time state champion in the mile run. Thomas also won two state titles in cross country. The mile is a tad longer than 1,600 meters, which is what track & field athletes run today.
The relationship between the Uniontown cross country team and the WPSBC began when former runners Megan and Jillian Monahan approached Everhart about the possibility of having the team visit the WPSBC.
“Their aunt worked at the school and talked about the possibility of us going down,” Everhart said. “When we called the school, they invited the whole team down. We were able to interact with the kids. We did swimming and physical education classes with them.
“It was a great teaching moment, and I think our kids enjoyed it just as much as their kids. We usually had our seniors say something about their experience. It was pretty amazing.”
Everhart said the “people at the school are remarkable,” and they would “set-up lesson plans for us.”
The team wasn’t able to interact with the students last year, but did visitor and plant bulbs for the school.
Everhart understands that times have changed when it comes to personal involvement with the students, but the team doesn’t plan on ending the relationship any time soon.