(WSB photos)

Different plan, same goal as Lou Cutler returned to Pathfinder K-8 – where he taught PE for many years – this morning to start the annual tradition of doing laps on the field, accompanied by students and staff, to raise money for Make-A-Wish.

Pre-pandemic, hundreds would join him on the field at the beginning and end of the one-day fundraiser – in which Lou would run/walk one lap for every year of the age he turns in late June. Last year, since nobody was at the school, Lou walked one big “lap” around the peninsula with friends. This year, at Pathfinder, small groups are joining him for two laps at a time, a total of 70 laps split between today and Thursday.

While Lou’s been doing this for almost two decades, he’s been a Make-A-Wish volunteer even longer, and before today’s first lap, he told the students about Avery, who’s about to have a bone-marrow transplant, and hopes to go to Disneyland – her “wish” – afterward. He’s inviting the students to write messages for her. You can help him raise money to make wishes come true by donating here.