That’s a photo from last year’s Northwest Hope and Healing Foundation 5K run/walk – in ’07 it was at Lincoln Park, but this year it’s at West Seattle’s other big shoreline park – Alki – and it’s coming up later this month! Tonight we welcome Northwest Hope and Healing as a WSB sponsor, as they work to continue spreading the word about what they do and how your participation in this year’s Alki Beach Run 5K walk/run can help. NWHH has a unique role in the fight against breast cancer and the work to help those who are battling it: It’s a low-overhead nonprofit (one employee, who works part time), based in West Seattle, that reaches out to newly diagnosed patients all around the metro area. Last year alone, Northwest Hope and Healing helped 1,000 local women who each found themselves among the 1 in every 8 women diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives. Director Shari Sewell explains that NWHH “provides financial assistance for non-medical needs like child care, counseling, transportation, meals & emergency rent to women receiving breast cancer treatment at Swedish Medical Center. In addition, our signature Healing Baskets are given free of charge to newly diagnosed breast cancer patients … over 3,000 of our Healing Baskets carried a message of love, life, and HOPE.” The money raised in the Alki Beach Run will help NWHH continue to spread that message; the 5K is set for Sunday, September 28, on a course between the Alki Statue of Liberty and Anchor (Luna) Park (here’s a route map on the NWHH website), with check-in on race day at 8 am at Alki Bathhouse, the run starting at 9. You can pre-register online right now by going here, or in person at Capers in The Junction. There are prizes for the 1st and 2nd-place finishers, too, provided by Salty’s on Alki (other prize categories include largest team and top fundraisers). Read more about Northwest Hope and Healing at its website, then go here to sign up for the Alki Beach Run (which is open to walkers, too), September 28 (two weeks from this Sunday).

Here again is the link where you can pre-register now; if you need to find it again later, just look for the Alki Beach Run logo ad in the right sidebar on all WSB pages.