More than 300 participants experienced this year’s Catholic Community of Northbrook (CCN) 5K Walk/Run Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning at St. Norbert Church in downtown Northbrook.
This was an increase over last year’s attendance, making the newer Turkey Trot addition a growing CCN tradition.
“Part of our spiritual renewal in the parish which we’ve been focusing on involves many different levels but part of it is celebrating together,” said Rev. Christopher Gustafson, CCN pastor.
“This is a wonderful way that community comes together and you can see that happiness and the joy, parents and their adult children now coming back and everybody just sharing.
“And it’s for a fun activity on a day that we give thanks to God for all of our blessings,” Gustafson said. “We do that in church but we do it outside of church too and as a nation.
“The Turkey Trot is just another way to do that,” Gustafson said.
CCN includes the St. Norbert and Our Lady of the Brook Northbrook parish.
“This is a community wide event,” said Mike Daly of Northbrook. “This is our fourth year now and we started during COVID (pandemic) and it was kind of a way to get people together during COVID, outdoors.
“But we have groups from other parishes here, amazingly, when I looked at the registrations, we have people from all over the country which are probably (college aged, grown) kids traveling in but from Chicago, from Glenview, from Northfield, from Wilmette,” Daly said.
States represented included Colorado, Florida, Tennessee and Iowa.
“I think the important thing is that this has become very much a family thing,” Daly said.
Thursday’s weather offered a 36 degree sunny morning on Thanksgiving.
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“I just love getting up, getting a little bit of exercise before we feast,” said Jim Colpi of Northbrook.
Staffing a beverage station was volunteer Curt Schaller of Northbrook who said, “It’s the perfect way to finish a race and start Thanksgiving Day.”
Luisa Sassali of Northbrook participated with children Alex, 9, a fourth grader, Valentina, 7, a second grader, and Nico, 11, a sixth grader.
Luisa Sassali was here for fellowship because, “I think it’s building family memories, supporting the parish and working up a good appetite.”
The event supported the parish’s turkeys for the holiday program, Daly said.
Daly said several hundred turkeys are distributed to recipient parishes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“There are 22 food pantries we support,” Daly said, of pantries in the Chicago area. “We spend well over $20,000 on turkeys. Trucks pick them up and deliver them to all of the food pantries.
“It’s nice we can make a difference,” Daly added.
People were encouraged to bring groceries to donate. Items such as dry cereal and macaroni and cheese were among donations. Those grocery items benefit a sister parish in Chicago, Daly said.
Chris and Cara Mullen of Glenview brought food to donate including chicken stock, canned chicken, pasta, pasta sauce and a bag of chocolate chips.
“We have so much, we spent all the last two, three days getting food for ourselves, and making food for ourselves so it’s really nice to give back, to be able to share,” Cara Mullen said.
Chris Mullen said, “It’s the holiday season so we’re getting ready to enjoy being with friends and family and this is also a time to start thinking about others and so this is part of it, is giving for what we have to help others to be able to enjoy the season.”
Jim Hynan of Northbrook staffed the table as a volunteer to stage the bags of groceries.
“I love doing it,” Hynan said.
Curt Schaller’s volunteer station was located across from the food donation table. Seeing groceries come in as people brought donations sparked conversation about the hidden and overt poverty in Chicagoland, including among the migrant population.
“It’s sad to see,” Schaller said, of hunger.
Darren and Kari Hayden of Northbrook took part with children Alaina, 15, a high school sophomore, Luke, 13, an eighth grader and Elisabeth, 19, a college sophomore.
To families and individuals facing food insecurity, Kari Hayden said, “We’re thinking of you, we’re praying for you.”
The Brown family of Northbrook participated in this Turkey Trot for the first time, including parents Matthew and Gauri Brown and children, Ravi, 9, a third grader, Vikram, 5, a kindergartner and Asha, 11, a sixth grader.
For the donation table, “We brought some canned beans and pasta … cornbread,” Gauri Brown said, adding that one person can make a difference.
“I think every little bit counts,” Gauri Brown said.
Steven Balla of Chicago was the 5K first finisher with an unofficial time of over 20 minutes. This was not a bib-chipped timed race and the course and running conditions were, “great.
“Nice good weather for it, good scenic route,” Balla added. “It’s fun.”
Visit https://www.northbrookcatholic.church.
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
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