Strides for a Good Cause
Running, Walking for Literary Fund

The Jeanine Nicarico Memorial Fund 5K Run/Walk for Reading took place at 7:30 a.m. Sunday at River Woods Elementary School.

The 5K course winds through the River Woods subdivision, Farmington and Walnut Ridge.

In 1983, Jeanine Nicarico was taken from her home and murdered. She was only 10, but during her short life Jeanine grew to love reading. Proceeds from this race benefited the Jeanine Nicarico Memorial Fund for Literacy. The fund was established in 1996 within the Naperville Education Foundation.

The fund provides grants for programs that promote a deeper understanding and teaching of literacy, enrich instructional programs, link literacy between the home and the school, and lay foundations that develop lifelong readers.

Since spring 1996, the fund has awarded 100 grants totaling almost $100,000 to schools in the Naperville and Indian Prairie school districts and to area private schools.

The fund exists mainly on private donations and a few annual fundraisers such as the 5K Run/Walk. Jenna and Laura Bush's recent visit to Naperville also benefited the fund. The race raises about $20,000 a year for the fund.