(WSB photo from 2018 Laps With Lou)

It’s one of our favorite stories to cover every June … but COVID-19 has changed it this year! Instead of running a school day’s worth of birthday laps at Pathfinder K-8, with members of the school community exuberantly joining in, retired PE teacher Lou Cutler has found another way to support Make-A-Wish this year, as he turns 69 years old. He explains:

The 69-lap Make-A-Wish run was scheduled for June 1st and was sadly, but rightly cancelled, as there was no way to do the event safely.

Over the years I was always asked if the day of the run was my birthday. I answered no and explained that if we ran the race on my actual birthday of June 25th, I would be running all by myself and the whole spirit of the magnificent event would be immensely diminished without the energy and enthusiasm of the students and the rest of the Pathfinder Community.

Not wanting to let the year pass by without paying tribute to Make-A-Wish and the spectacular wishes that are provided to the wish kids and families, I decided that I will throw myself a fabulous birthday party and walk 11.5 miles, the equivalent of 69 laps, on June 25th.

Not wanting to attract a big crowd and get MAW in trouble, I am not notifying the students of the time or route of the walk, but rather will be joined by a few Make-A-Wish Volunteers and staff for all or part of the walk and I will do it as a MAW fundraiser.

In honor of Lou’s dedication, and the kids whose wishes come true (Lou has volunteered with that for many years too), you can go here to donate – and to see a video showing some of the joy of Laps with Lou over more than a decade and a half.