'Something for everybody': Do It for James Foundation to hold Walk/Run Day of Fun Saturday
Since their son, James, took his life after he was the victim of a sextortion plot, Tamia and Tim Woods have worked ceaselessly to educate the public on the issue and save lives.
They've spoken at roughly 15 schools across the state of Ohio.
They've given numerous interviews to media outlets.
This Saturday, they are doing something different.
Their Do It for James Foundation is hosting its first Walk/Run Day of Fun at Streetsboro's City Park.
The Walk/Run Day of Fun will include a 5K (at 10 a.m.), but it will also feature a variety of entertainment, including a DJ, juggler, stilt walkers, family relay games and basketball and volleyball contests.
And the day will include institutions like the FBI and Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County providing families with tools to combat sextortion, an online crime increasingly targeting teenagers in which victims are convinced to share sexually explicit pictures or perform sexual acts on camera and then are blackmailed.
Tamia Woods said the goal is simple.
"For everyone to leave with a smiling face, but also with education in hand," Woods said. "We've saved lives. We know that. How many? We don't know, but to know that we took an extra step and actually provided our kids with additional information to help overcome certain situations that they may think would be the end of their lives and now they know that they have additional resources, to me that makes it successful."
How the Do It for James Foundation Walk/Run Day of Fun came together
For Tamia Woods, there were as many reasons to have a Day of Fun as there will be activities Saturday at City Park.
For one, the running pays tribute to her son, James, a talented cross country and track athlete for Streetsboro who died in November.
Moreover, the foundation will give out scholarships to the top finishers in the cross country races, with Tamia and Tim Woods noting how hard it is to secure cross country scholarships.
"We wanted to, one, raise honor in doing something that James loved to do, which was run, but, two, give an opportunity for cross country and track students to receive another scholarship to help them along the way," Tamia Woods said. "So it started off with that, but we had to think of other ways to get families involved because, at the end of the day, we are trying to still raise awareness of sextortion and leave a legacy behind for our child."
That's the other key point of the Day of Fun.
If the Do It for James Foundation simply put on a talk about sextortion Saturday, as it has done at schools across the Buckeye State, a decent number of people might come.
Adding in a bevy of family-friendly entertainment, including a relay that will crown "the fastest family of 2023," should bring in far more people — to have fun and to learn.
"It's like a little bit of something for everybody," Tim Woods said. "So you're not just coming and wondering what you have to read from this person or this person. You can actually have fun with the kids and listen to music."
Planning Saturday's event took months, per Tim Woods, but the goal is to have a day that is fun and educational and that will turn into a tradition around Streetsboro.
"It's something that we plan on doing every year, so it's not just a one-time thing," Tim Woods said. "As long as our foundation is running, we're going to keep doing it every single year and we hope it continues to grow every single year. Hopefully, more people come out, learn something and hopefully we can add something new each time, and throughout the year we plan on still telling them the same thing they're going to hear on Saturday."
Do It for James Foundation Walk/Run Day of Fun Info
When: Saturday, Aug. 5, with events starting at 8:30 a.m.
Where: City Park, 8970 Kirby Lane, Streetsboro, OH 44241
Cost: The event is free to enter (there is a registration fee for those who wish to participate in the races)
More: For the full schedule of the Do It for James Foundation's Walk/Run Day of Fun, go to https://www.letsdifj.org/difjf-5k-walkrun-fun-day. Donations to the foundation can be made at https://www.letsdifj.org/donate.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Do It for James Foundation seeks to educate, entertain with Day of Fun
