23 Reading Residents To Participate In Jimmy Fund Walk

READING, MA — Twenty-three Reading residents will participate in the Boston Marathon Jimmy Fund Walk early next month to raise funds for cancer care and cancer research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Local walkers include Ayla Pertler, Rosanne DeFreitas, Crystal Hodson, Jessica Kaufman, Kimberly Salley, Kate Ronan, Ryan Belcher, Kelli Pertler, Kristin Foristall, Lisa Lam, as well as 13 others not identified in a press release from walk organizers.

Together, the group will join thousands of other walkers in what is an annual fundraising event.
To date, the Jimmy Fund Walk has raised more than $155 million for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute over 33 years.

“Throughout the past 33 years, the Jimmy Fund Walk has continuously supported life-saving research and cancer care at Dana-Farber. And the pandemic didn’t stop us,” Jimmy Fund Walk Director Zack Blackburn recently said.

The walk has taken place virtually over the past two years. It is now returning with its first in-person running since 2019 on Oct. 2.

The walk lets participants choose from different distance options, including a 5K walk, a 10K walk, a half marathon walk and a full marathon walk.

Participants can also opt to utilize a “walking their way” option that allows them to complete their walk in their neighborhood, on a hiking trail or on a treadmill.

There will be a dozen refueling stations along the marathon walk course as well as poster-sized photographs of patients in half-mile increments as inspiration. Each of the in-person walk options ends at the Copley Square marathon finish line in Boston, where there will be a celebration with food, music, and a speaking program.

To register for the Jimmy Fund Walk or to support a walker, click here or call (866) 531-9255.