On the 10th annual L3 Foundation’s Turkey Day 5K, board member Miles Kenny gathered the crowd near the stage at Kingwood’s Town Center. The run had attracted their largest crowd ever with more than 2,000 participants. In addition to thanking everyone for participating and raising money for pediatric cancer research, Kenny made an announcement.
He told the crowd that L3 would be stepping back from running the race starting in 2025 and Addi’s Faith Foundation would be taking over.
“We really do vow to carry on this tradition they have started,” said Amber Bender, co-founder of Addi’s Faith Foundation. “It’s been a great event, and we’ll just continue to do a lot of the same.”
The annual 5K was started by Jaymi and Scott Ahrendt after their son, Landon, passed away during his battle with Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer. Landon passed away at 10 years old in 2014.
The race has been held every Thanksgiving since and the funds from it have allowed the L3 Foundation to donate about $1 million to help fund immunotherapy research.
Addi’s Faith Foundation and L3 have worked together in the past to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer research. Bender said their organization was honored to be asked by the Ahrendt family to carry on the Kingwood tradition.
“They said, this will still be Landon’s Turkey Trot, and hearing that was very reassuring,” said senior Wells Kenny, head of marketing and volunteering for the L3 Foundation.
This year, the L3 Foundation raised $325,000 that they donated to three different hospital systems.
Even though the L3 Foundation will step away from the race, it will continue working to help raise money to end the battle of pediatric cancer.
Much of that support and work comes from students, like Kenny, who work with the foundation.
Some of the original Turkey Day 5k runners and friends of Landon are in college now. Scott Ahrendt is amazed at how the event has resonated with them. Some of them are studying medicine, with a focus on cancers, as they try to help find cures.
“L3 happens because of kids,” Scott Ahrendt said. “And our slogan is ‘Kids helping kids fight cancer.’ One of the things we learned at the beginning was kids do amazing things if you just support them and then, frankly, get out of their way and let them do it.”
