Stern Wheezers

by Bud Meyers, Stern Board Member and Miles for a Mission Captain

 

The Stern Center is excited to be partnering with the Vermont City Marathon (VCM) this year to raise money for our scholarship program to help those with both financial and educational need to be able to afford services. We have three five-person relay teams running with us this year, one of them being headed-up by Stern Center Board member, Bud Meyers. He and his team, the Stern Wheezers (known as the UVM Wheezers in years past) have been doing this race for more than 20 years. Here’s why he’s running for the Stern Center this year:

Every year I say "this will be the last...," but then I smell the roses and line up at the exchange. Memory fades, but I checked the VCM archives and it seems that the UVM Wheezers started running the this race in 1992. It may have been ’91, but those records are missing.

Anyway, who’s counting? Most of the past 23 years the core group of diehard runners, Russ, Charlie and Bud have gathered friends, spouses, children, grandchildren and graduate students to round out the Wheezers (you can hear us coming) for twenty six miles of fun, frolic and pain. We’ve run for many reasons, but mostly because we can.

This year the New/Old Wheezers are in it for the Stern Center. We’ve decided to run in VCM’s Miles for a Mission program to raise funds for the Stern Center for Language and Learning’s Scholarship Program. It seems like a win-win for us. Steven, my grandson and Stern Center alum, will be with us.

Steven and Stern found each other when he was about seven years old and really needed help learning to read and study. Over the next few years, skilled and caring teachers at the Stern Center helped him overcome barriers, and learn to read and do math. Steven, his parents and I will be forever grateful for the help and support he received at the Stern Center.

We all feel that kids in need of this kind of learning assistance should have access to these opportunities to learn. The Stern Center’s scholarship program is a wonderful chance for students and families who would otherwise not be able to afford services to receive them.

We hope others will join us in this “run for the roses” that has special meaning for us and holds promise for so many.

We still have a few spots available on our Stern Center Miles for a Mission team. If you are interested in running and raising money for us this year, please contact Ed at ewilkens@sterncenter.org.