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In August 2013 two club members were blessed with the birth of a baby girl. Lions Adam and Brooke Burleson recieved test results stating that there was a 99% chance their baby girl would be born with down syndrome. This news was quite a shock to them. They had so many questions. What does that mean? What do we do? Is she going to be ok? They were scared and uncertain, but through great support from family and friends and Gods overwhelming peace they moved forward with a new positive outlook. One of the first reads that was sent to them was a short story called “Welcome to Holland” . This story was the inspiration for their beautiful baby’s name and they felt so blessed that God sent her to them regardless of any test result.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by
Emily Perl Kingsley.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

The purpose of the “Run For Holland 5K” is to raise awareness in our community about Down Syndrome. Specifically, to raise awareness for parents who have had or are having a child born with a physical or mental disability. We want to show these parents that having a child with Down Syndrome or any other disability is not the end of the world, it is the beginning of a wonderfully different, more fulfilling world. Just as the Welcome To Holland story says: “It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.” 

So if you would like to support our cause please do! We are in need of sponsors, volunteers, runners, and walkers. The biggest way to help is to spread the word! Let people know about the story of Holland and the race.  

Race Information:

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