Students takes steps for charity
It's not unusual to find dozens of people walking around Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee before retailers open for business.
But Saturday, mall-walkers were joined by a group that typically enjoys sleeping in on the weekends: high school students.
About 130 of them from seven local schools and three churches took part in the Northern Fox Valley Habitat For Humanity Walk-a-thon.
Students from Elgin, Lake in the Hills, Streamwood and Barrington strolled or power-walked their way around the 1-mile course.
"I think it is really cool that you can raise money just by walking," said Tricia Galpin, 16, an Elgin High junior participating in her first walk-a-thon. "It didn't take anything extra on my part. I had to get up early, but I usually would have been up getting ready for school."
Participants collected a flat fee or donations based on the number of laps around the 1-mile course they completed.
Galpin and two fellow National Honor Society members at Elgin High -- Mihir Brahmbhatt, 17, and Tommy Stopka, 16 -- finished 6 laps in two hours.
"You can walk to help people," Stopka said. "It's a service and takes two hours of your day."
Money raised from the event will help Habitat For Humanity build a new home for a local family, said Barb Beckman, executive director of the Northern Fox Valley organization.
"The kids were very eager, and we had to slow some of them down," Beckman said. "There was some competition with the mall walkers."
The school that raises the most money will be awarded a trophy on March 10.
Last year, the walk-a-thon raised about $3,000, which went toward building a house in Carpentersville in 13 days.
For 18-year-olds Katie Goldrath and Kiersten Musetti of Barrington High, the walk-a-thon is one of many events their Habitat for Humanity club enters.
About eight club members were on hand Saturday.
"We love helping and being part of Habitat for Humanity. We find ways to help anyway we can because every little bit helps," said Goldrath, a senior. "Plus, it's good exercise."