For the third year in a row, runner Glen Wolther donated $5,000 for St. Brigid’s 7th annual 5K Run/Walk and Kids Fun Run.
Wolther, CEO of All Round Foods in Westbury, is the main sponsor for about two dozen races on Long Island, including the Great Cow Harbor 10K Run, the Santa’s Toy Trot 5K Run/Walk, the 6 Hour 60th Birthday Celebration Run and Relay and more.
Wolther also donated $10,000 to the Westbury Senior Center in July. In a Patch report about this donation, Town of North Hempstead Council Member Robert Troiano said Wolther has “quietly been contributing and supporting our community for years,” which has been evident in his latest donation.
“My business is located here in Westbury, so I thought I should support the Westbury Village and community,” Wolther said. “Also, I’m a runner myself.”
Wolther said his sister convinced him to run the Long Island Marathon when he was 34 over 30 years ago. After finishing at 5 hours, he trained to get a better time at the New York Marathon.
“I trained a little bit smarter and I ran 3:59:59,” Wolther said. “I broke four hours and I got hooked.”
After more training, Wolther got his best recorded time of 3 hours and 35 minutes.
“I do a lot in the racing community,” Wolther said. “I’m one of the major sponsors of events on Long Island.”
The upcoming race that Wolther helped sponsor, which is hosted by the school’s PTA, will take place at St. Brigid Our Lady of Hope Regional School on Nov. 30. The fun run will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the run/walk will start at 9 a.m. EliteFeats will time each runner and the results will be posted on Events.EliteFeats.com/24stbrigid.
“It’s just amazing that our St. Brigid’s 5K is going to be the 7th annual this November,” Michiko Clarke, event chair, said. “All Round Foods owner Glen Wolther has been our Race Title Sponsor since 2022 and we are beyond grateful for his continuous support for our little Westbury community race.”
The event started in 2018, as a centennial celebration for the school. Clarke said she picked late November to host the race because that’s when a lot of the young alumni come back home for Thanksgiving.
“The race went well and it raised a lot of money for the school so we tried to keep this a tradition,” Clarke said.
In 2018, about $9,000 was raised at the event. In recent years, Clarke said that number increased to about $15,000 to $20,000. The money goes directly to the PTA where they have used it to help update the computers at the schools, host events and overall upgrade parts of the school.
Clarke said her favorite part about the race is when she sees familiar faces. She said the event is a “little reunion” for the alumni and staff members.
“Current students and teachers come volunteer so we try to have this event unite the community,” Clarke said. “It can be an event where people can come back to the school once a year to see what’s going on.”
Last year about 300 people ran. Clarke said she is aiming for 400 this year.
