5-kilometer
run to benefit micro-loan program in Peru
By Cassia West
April 2, 2007 | The Cache Valley Salute 5K run/walk
benefiting micro-banking in Peru will be at 9 a.m. Saturday
at the Nelson Field House.
The race is open to all ages, and the cost is $10
per entry. Registration can be done at the Military
Science Building on USU's main campus or online at http://cvsalute.usu.edu/
where more information can be found.
The event is being organized by USU's Army ROTC, headed
by Cadet Jacob Roecker, to honor the ROTC tradition
at Utah State and benefit the Hope Alliance.
The Cache Valley Salute pays tribute to all of the
men and women from Utah State University who have served
America since their legacy began in 1900.
"By 1947, the military science program was so
successful and it had gained such prominence that USU
was known as the 'West Point of the West,'" said
former USU ROTC Cadet Shawn Harris in his book, West
Point of the West. "USU was commissioning
more officers into the military than any school in the
nation except West Point itself."
Harris said, "Students who trained and drilled
on USU's Quad fought in the trenches of WWI and across
the skies and battlefields of WWII. . . . They served
in the barren hills of Korea, in the jungles of Vietnam
and Panama and in the Deserts of the Middle East."
At the end of the 5K run, which passes many of the
historical buildings on campus, there will be photos
of many of the past and present officers who graduated
from Utah State. There also will be a raffle and music.
All proceeds will go to the Hope Alliance in its effort
to benefit micro-banking in Peru and other developing
countries.
The Hope Alliance is using the funds to set up these
micro-loan accounts in small villages in Peru, Chile
and possibly Brazil. These loans will make small amounts
of money available to the very poorest people in those
countries. Small amounts enable the poverty-stricken
to finance their personal businesses.
Roecker has been instrumental in organizing this event
and arranging the proceeds to assist the Hope Alliance.
Roecker is a junior in the ROTC program, majoring in
speech communication. He has been to Iraq twice on military
deployments, has a wife and three children and is enrolled
for 25 credit hours this semester. He said that the
ROTC program has done so much for him and his family
and that he felt compelled to give something back, to
recognize the long tradition of students who have gone
before him.
Roecker said of the past ROTC students, "Their
experiences are worth keeping alive."
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