All welcome to join Arch March charity walk Sunday

All welcome to join Arch March charity walk Sunday

Two well-known arches – the University of St. Thomas’ Summit Avenue arches and McDonald’s trademark arches – will figure prominently in a charity walk this weekend by St. Thomas students, staff, faculty, alumni and neighbors.

The second-annual Arch March starts at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, April 13, at the St. Thomas arches. Participants will march three miles to the Ronald McDonald House at 621 Oak Street, S.E., Minneapolis, where they will present donations collected to support the work of the house.

The Ronald McDonald House provides a home away from home for up to 48 families of chronically and terminally ill children receiving medical care in the Twin Cities. Worldwide, more than 10 million families have benefited from Ronald McDonald Houses.

Money is being raised through pledges for the walk and through the collection of pop tabs. Approximately 800 “pop-tab houses” have been placed in residence halls, near recycling bins and at other locations throughout the St. Thomas campus.

The Ronald McDonald House Pop-Tab Collection Program was initiated in 1987 here in the Twin Cities; since then about 400 million tabs have been collected nationally, generating more than $4 million.

Those who would like to contribute to the effort can deposit pop tabs in the containers; participate in the walk and collect pledges; help support someone who is walking; or send a check, made out to Ronald McDonald House, to Valerie Lichter, one of the student organizers, at Mail #6082.

You can register for the march, and deliver pop tabs and/or contributions, at the arches at the start of the march on Sunday. Also, participation in the march counts toward service hours.

The Cities 97 radio station is supporting the effort and will park a music-playing van near the St. Thomas arches at the start of the walk.

A reception and check-presentation will be held at the Ronald McDonald at the end of the walk. Participants will have the choice of walking back to the St. Thomas campus, or ride in a bus.

For more information about the event, contact Bridget Jewell, director of the march, at (651) 270-9947 or bmjewell@stthomas.edu. Information about the march, including downloadable pledge sheets, also is posted on the Arch March Web site here.

The march is co-sponsored by the American Marketing Association, Entrepreneurship Society, Gamma Sigma Sigma, and the Freshman Class Council.