Editor's Message

Look what the Laurel Run garden has grown!

Any gardener can tell you that sometimes when you plant a seed, you end up with something you didn’t expect.

When Wayne and Elaine Hotelling created Laurel Run in 1997, they weren’t planning on making it an annual event – their intent simply was to raise awareness about individuals with disabilities. But as Wayne jogged and cycled more than 400 miles across New York State’s back roads and highways, he and Elaine encountered people who were fascinated by their initiative; the fact that the Hotellings named Laurel Run in honor of their oldest daughter, who has Down syndrome, resonated with many folks. The favorable response was so overwhelming that Wayne and Elaine decided to make Laurel Run an annual celebration of the potential existing within people who are disabled. A seed had been planted, and a tradition had been started.

Over the past dozen years, Laurel Run has seen many new seeds planted, as more and more people learn about the event and come out to support it. In addition, seeds planted years ago have borne fruit: Wayne is a retired teacher and coach from Silver Creek Central School, and many former students and colleagues get involved in Laurel Run each year as sponsors and participants. One group of SCCS runners from the 1980s and ‘90s return to Silver Creek each July for Laurel Run; they compete in the 8-kilometer run as the Rusty Knights, and their involvement has led current students and coaches to engage in friendly competition with the alums, with the younger sets calling themselves the Shiny Knights and the Enlightened Knights.

For me, the most satisfying thing to come from the seeds of Laurel Run is the positive effect the event has had on individuals with disabilities. Wayne and Elaine say that before they started Laurel Run, Laurel was somewhat shy and reserved; certainly, that no longer is the case. Laurel has a huge smile on her face during Laurel Run as she zips around on her three-wheeled cycle, and everyone wants to meet her – she’s quite the celebrity.

Other individuals with disabilities also have been affected by Laurel Run, and have adopted the event as their own. People from The Resource Center’s Day Programs make homemade signs each year to cheer on the runners during the Laurel Run Relay; individuals with disabilities come to Silver Creek each year to take part in the events or volunteer their time; and folks proudly wear their Laurel Run shirts all year long. It’s invigorating to see the impact Laurel Run has had on individuals with disabilities and their families.

Perhaps the most inspirational story from Laurel Run involves people challenged by chronic and persistent mental illness. Due to the debilitating nature of their disability, people with severe mental illness have a difficult time integrating with the rest of the community, thus challenging their counselors and mental health clinicians to come up with ways to engage people in their community as a component of their treatment.

In 2007, Nancy Ann Battaglia decided to get some people from the “Gateways” Continuing Day Treatment Program involved in Laurel Run. They came to Silver Creek that day and volunteered, first by handing out T-shirts to people during registration, then by stationing themselves at the finish line to hand water to the participants. Nancy, a Mental Health Clinician at Gateways, reported that on the way home, the half-dozen consumers commented that they had had a great time and wanted to do it again the following month. Nancy explained that Laurel Run was just an annual event, but that there were other community initiatives in which the group could get involved. The consumers agreed, and the Gateways “Team of Hope” was born.

With Nancy guiding them, the Gateways consumers began identifying causes they wanted to support. In the two years since they started, the Team of Hope members have supported a variety of organizations: the American Association for Suicide Prevention, American Cancer Society, Boys and Girls Club of Northern Chautauqua County, Chautauqua County Humane Society, Chautauqua County Rural Ministries, Domestic Violence Hotline, The Salvation Army, Toys for Tots, and United Way of Northern Chautauqua County. The results have been tremendous, empowering the Gateways consumers to improve their lives.

“Giving to others decreases feelings of depression, hopelessness and worthlessness. Experiencing the activities in our area decreases our tendency to isolate,” Nancy says. “Volunteering increases job skills, builds self-confidence and self-esteem, creates balance between work and play, provides opportunities for exercise, and decreases the stigma often associated with mental illness.”

A total of 32 Gateways consumers have worked on a community project, while everyone in the program has contributed in some way to the Team of Hope’s success. Because of her efforts to improve the lives of people with mental illness while also improving their community, Nancy was chosen to receive the Bruce “Wally” Walford Community Service Award at this year’s Laurel Run. Click here for details.

Hard to imagine that all this would come from the seeds Wayne and Elaine planted 12 years ago. And Laurel Run continues to plant seeds, because you never know what’s going to grow. If through Laurel Run people with mental illness can know that they’re making a difference as contributing, valued members of their community, thereby helping themselves on the long road to recovery, there is hope.

Let’s keep planting seeds.

Steve Waterson