By Patrick Baron

PONTIAC – Livingston County residents are welcome to attend and take part in an annual 5K with proceeds going to benefit a local organization.

The Pontiac 5K for the United Way of Livingston County is coming up later this month. Discussing the event with WJEZ’s Todd Wineburner, Deb Howard of the United Way of Livingston County and Karissa Chandler from Caterpillar said whether people want to run or walk, they are welcome to sign up for the event and raise some money for the United Way.

“This year, something we’re really trying to do is encourage businesses to support their teams, maybe get some teams registered for the event to walk or run,” said Chandler. “You don’t have to be a runner to participate, this is a fun run. There’s no judgments, let’s just get out there and raise some money for the United Way.”

Howard added that these days people don’t just send in checks for donations anymore. She explained having an event or activity like a 5K provides the United Way of Livingston County with enough support to stay afloat.

“We can always use more employee campaigns. But your average person, if there’s no employee campaign at work, if they didn’t get a letter in the mail – even if they did get a letter in the mail – they’ll go buy a pork chop so you can get money out of the proceeds of that,” said Howard. “Events are very, very important to United Way making their goal.”

Registration for the event is open until the day of the 5K. The cost to register is $20 through August 17, with the price increasing to $25 the day of the event.

The 5K will take place on Saturday, August 25 at 8 a.m. beginning at the east entrance of the Caterpillar parking lot.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].