Bar run raises $7,500 for disabled kids

HAZLETON - A record number of people in Hazleton enjoyed a refreshing cold beer Saturday while breaking a fundraising record to help those who need the most help – disabled babies and children.

The Committee to Help Handicapped Infants and Parents Succeed hosted the 25th annual Trot ‘N’ Brew beer race. This year’s race was the largest ever as 460 people ran or walked the 1.5-mile course, visiting five area bars to raise an estimated $7,500 for the Helping Hands Society, co-sponsor Rocco Colangelo, Jr. said.

For 46-year-old Sam Touch, who is battling cancer, the race brings a glimmer of hope. He looks forward to the race every year and actually ran in the first race in 1983 when he was 21 years old.

Touch has a front row seat to the race. The starting and finishing line is directly in front of his home. Although hundreds of people converge on the area, there are never any problems. Everyone just hangs out and has a good time, Touch said.

“There are lots of negative things happening even in our own town, but something like this shows how everyone can be peaceful and have a good time,” Touch said.

Participants start the race at the corner of Poplar Street and Berner Avenue and purchase 7-ounce beers or sodas for a quarter each at the Top Shelf, The Battered Mug, Bunker’s, Joyce & Bill’s Bar & Grill and Gabriel’s before ending back on Berner Avenue.

Since runners must go through bars, everyone must be at least 21 years old. But there is no maximum age limit or residency requirement.

For the last 17 years, Rhody Holthaus , 74, and Frank O’Brien, 77, have come from the Baltimore area to “help the babies,” as Holthaus puts it.

But both friends have a special place in their hearts for disabled children. O’Brien’s granddaughter is starting college in two weeks with plans to major in working with persons with autism, and Holthaus had a brother, Louie, who was a Down syndrome child.

Colangelo has always been involved with the fundraiser his father was instrumental in founding. Since his father’s passing in 2002, Colangelo and his sisters Cheryl Ash and Terri Moench continue to sponsor the race that meant so much to their father.

“Can you think of a better cause?” Colangelo said. “It’s all about the babies. If we can do anything to help infants live full and active lives, what better charity is there to be involved in?”

According to the Helping Hands Society’s Web site, the non-profit organization provides speech, occupational and physical therapies to children from birth through school-age.

“The earlier you intervene and provide therapy for infants who have challenges to overcome, the greater the success rate,” Colangelo said.

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