A ‘We-Ha’ team is forming for the third annual APK Charities 5K Race and 5K Ruck Walk on Saturday, Nov. 4.

By Tom Hickey

Are you looking for something different to do to honor veterans this year – especially since, sadly, veterans seem to be focused on less and less each year?

Join a gang of West Hartfordites as part of the We-Ha team for the APK Charities 5K Ruck Walk on Saturday, Nov. 4 on the beautiful Connecticut shoreline at the Guilford Fairgrounds, Lover’s Lane, Guilford, CT. You can run as part of a traditional 5K but our team will be doing the 5K Ruck Walk.

Visit www.APK5K.org for all the details.

If you are like me, you may not know what a ruck is. A ruck, sometimes called a rucksack, is the military backpack that our service men/women wear to carry all their gear and supplies. For this 5K Ruck Walk, the backpack you bring will need to be filled with canned goods to be donated the Town That Cares in West Hartford, along with other food banks.

On race day, the registration takes place first thing in the morning, and you’ll be done by 11:30 a.m. so you could potentially be back in West Hartford by lunchtime!

I first heard about Andrew Pedersen-Keel (the man for whom APK was named) from Kevin Dowd, UBS and local West Hartford resident. When Kevin mentioned that Andrew was a graduate of Avon Old Farms and I met his parents Bob and Helen I felt an immediate connection. Kevin introduced them as a Gold Star Family and I also did not know what that meant. I assumed it was an honor, which of course it is, but it also means a loved one has died fighting for all of us and our country.

It reminded me of the local Conard graduate Larry Philippon who died in 2005, three years after enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps. We-Ha has a Gold Star family as well. So all of this brought it all closer to home for me.

So join We-Ha in the APK Ruck Walk by indicating you are a member of Team We-Ha when you register, and we’ll see you on  Nov. 4 to honor all of our veterans this year.