SACRAMENTO - As Old Man Winter bears down on the Tri-Valley community with a blast of polar air, a group of young and energetic people at Sterman Masser Inc. are planning this year's annual Hot Potato 5K Run/Fun Walk.
Last year's event raised $25,485 for Tri-Valley charities. This year, the event is set for June 14 and will raise funds to begin a new foundation for the Tri-Valley community.
The legal work is being completed now to form a foundation which will benefit youth activities in the community.
"We don't have the specific name of the foundation ironed out just yet," Dave Masser, president of Sterman Masser Inc., said, "but we are completing the paperwork for 501(c) status and creating a board of directors."
The money raised at the Hot Potato 5K will go into the foundation and, in turn, organizations will be able to apply to the foundation for funds. A board of directors will determine how the funds are disbursed.
"For example, if the high school band is in need of instruments or some type of equipment, they could apply to the foundation for funds," Masser said. "Any organization that promotes the educational, cultural or athletic development of children will be able to apply for funds."
Masser said the ultimate goal of the foundation is to eventually erect a facility in the community where people of all ages can come together for sporting events, social gatherings, concerts and senior citizen activities.
"We have plans and ideas and goals in mind, but at this point, we need to begin raising the funds for the foundation and the funds for due diligence to determine if the ultimate goal can be reached," Masser said. "We need to keep in mind that we are one community - the Tri-Valley community. We need to work together and move forward with our area and make this a place where Tri-Valley's best and brightest will want to return to work and raise their families. A community center with auxiliary gym and meeting/banquet space which is desperately needed, should add to the draw."
Masser said the population is declining and the charter funded by the Hot Potato 5K would like to change that.
"I graduated from Tri-Valley in 1994 and at that time, there were 95 students in my class. Twenty years later, my daughter is in fourth grade and her class has approximately 25 less students. We need to positively change this direction and move forward and work together as one community to make this a better place where infrastructure and people will come in order to sustain this community."
Tri-Valley Superintendent Mark Snyder said in an email that Tri-Valley's numbers have been declining over the years. He did confirm the census has been on the downward spiral in the district.
This year's Hot Potato 5K will feature a "Tator Tot Trot" race for children - a shorter, mile long race, designed to spotlight the children participation in the race. The Tator Tot Trot will be held at 8:15 a.m., with the main 5K to begin at 9 a.m. The 5K will follow the same route as last year with the starting and ending line at Trinity Lutheran Church, Valley View. The Tator Tot Trot will also begin at Trinity Lutheran Church, following a shorter route along the main race track.
Registration for the Hot Potato 5K will begin Feb. 17. There is a Facebook page for the event at www.facebook.com/TheHotPotato5k, a Twitter account at @HotPotato5K and a website at www.hotpotato5K.org.
"We sit side by side in the same churches in Sunday worship, funerals and weddings. Our children sit side by side in the same schools, our parents and friends lay side by side in the same cemeteries. It's rather foolish to have a fight over solving a pollution problem that impacts us all and, if not addressed, will be a lasting problem which will destroy our community and leave nothing for the next generation but lost jobs, decreasing real estate values and a foolish animosity among friends who have grown up together and want to raise their children in a clean and wholesome community," Masser said. "I hope we can work together in events like the Hot Potato 5K to show what positive and good can come out of all of us working together."