Los Altos Town Crier | April 5, 2022
By: Special to the Town Crier
The sixth annual Foster5K launches Foster Care Awareness Month in May. Participants in this year’s virtual event can walk or run anytime they want May 1 to raise funds for the nonprofit Child Advocates of Silicon Valley.
Child Advocates and its Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program, a longtime recipient of the Town Crier Holiday Fund, support children in foster care.
Registration for the Foster5K includes a T-shirt, goody bag, raffle and prizes.
“I’ve always wanted to host the Foster5K in May,” said Los Altos resident Debbie Crouse, Foster5K co-chairperson and Child Advocates board member. “I felt it was only appropriate to raise awareness during Foster Care Awareness Month. Everything aligned this year, and we were happily able to pull it off.”
Crouse noted that children in foster care are overlooked by the broader community throughout the year.
“This is a population that has undergone severe trauma through no fault of their own,” she said. “I choose to be on the board of Child Advocates and focus on awareness and fund-
raising because of the direct impact CASAs have on positive outcomes for children in foster care. The facts speak for themselves.”
The Foster5K had its first run in Los Altos in spring 2017. Foster5K co-chairperson Joy Erf said she’s proud they not only sustained the event through the pandemic, but also have long-standing committee members, participants and sponsors who were hard-hit economically themselves last year.
“This is not like other races,” Erf said. “People are signing up because they want to help children in foster care. I cannot imagine my children making it through the pandemic without our family unit intact.”
This year’s lead sponsors include BMC Software, Andy Wong Real Estate, Curves of Los Altos, Dish Dash Restaurants, Silicon Valley Golf, Summit Financial Group and Timothy J. Miller, D.D.S.
In fiscal year 2021, Child Advocates served 849 foster children through its CASA Program, which recruits, trains and supports community members who are appointed with a court order by a judge to advocate for the best interests of a child in foster care.
For sponsorship information, email info@foster5k.org.
To register for the Foster5K, visit Foster5K.org.
For more information on Child Advocates, visit ChildAdvocatesSV.org.