Rachel’s Walk in Hoffman raises money for needy children

The Rachel’s Walk of Love Foundation invites you to join them on Saturday, May 11 for the annual fundraiser, Rachel’s Walk of Love, 9 a.m.-noon at Thomas Jefferson School, 3805 Winston Drive, Hoffman Estates.

The 5K raises money for the foundation, which provides shoes for children in need.

Online registration is closed, but walkers can still sign up at 9 a.m. on Saturday at the event; $25 for the first adult in the group. The event also will have live music, refreshments, face painting, a bouncy house, balloon artist, a DJ, a silent auction and more. T-shirts and athletic backpacks will be given to the first 400 registrants. For information, visit rachelswalkoflove.org.

The event is named for Rachel Rosmanitz, whose mother and stepfather, Lisa and Bill Olson, organized the foundation after Rachel’s unexpected death in 2008 at age 9.

“Tragically, Rachel passed away unexpectedly in 2008, from a seizure, thought to be caused by a rare metabolic disorder, which left her in a coma for 33 days, and eventually claimed her life,” Lisa Olson writes on the foundation website.

Lisa says that Rachel wrote thousands of love notes to her family in her 9½ years — “it was as if she knew she would only be here a short time and wrote enough notes to span a lifetime,” she writes. “She always signed her notes with her signature phrase, ‘I love you so much, forever.’”