September 12, 2025 • 26 mins
he Mario Lemieux Foundation and Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation announced today that registration is now open for the 13th Annual Pittsburgh Penguins 6.6K Run and Family Walk presented by Highmark. This year’s event will feature both in-person and virtual options. The race will be held in-person on Sunday, October 5, and virtual participants can run or walk their 6.6K anywhere, anytime, between July 22 and October 5. All proceeds benefit the cancer research and patient care initiatives of the Mario Lemieux Foundation, as well as the youth initiatives of the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
And welcome in. This is a public affairs program shedding
the light on the interest, the issues and concerns at
the greater Pittsburgh area. Good morning, My name is Johnny
hert Well. My guest in studio Andrew Parrish, Executive director
of the Mary Elmu Foundation Mary Elmu Foundation. It hardly
needs any kind of introduction.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Huh yeah, well thanks for having me, Johnny, I we
appreciate it. Yes, Since nineteen ninety three we've been in
Pittsburgh raising of money for cancer research and patient care.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
And you can register now for the twenty twenty five
Pittsburgh Penguins six point six k Run and Family Walk
presented by high Mark, which is coming up on October fifth.
But you could be doing the walk right now. You
could do it virtually, right.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You sure can. We have a virtual option where you
can run or walk the six point six k any
way you like. Any you walk, you can run, treadmill, bike,
you can do any any way you want to do
it virtually and submit your time and then we'll mail
you your race shirt and finishing metal actress.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Awesome, So tell us everything about now you want the
event to be You know, you want a gathering of people,
So tell us everything we need to know about your
event coming up on October fifth.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sure, Sunday, October fifth. You can register now at Mario
Lemu dot org. We have it's basically kicks off the
Penguin season every year. This is our thirteenth year of
the six point six K. We've raised almost two million
dollars since the Start and Justice event alone for the
Mario the MW Foundation in the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. But
it's a fun morning, it's a fun race. We start
at PPG Pains Arena and end at PPG Pains Arena.
(01:25):
We go over two bridges, run through a tunnel. So
it's a really unique race course that we have. I
think we're the only race in Pittsburgh that goes through
a tunnel.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Well, I also think it might be the only race
that I know of that is six point six kay.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Obviously the unique distance from Ario's jersey number. Yeah. So
we've six point six K and we have the family Walk,
which is three point three k.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Okay. Uh So you started thirteen years ago and you've
raised over two million dollars. What is that money earmark for?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, So we split it between the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation
and the Mario the MW Foundation. The LEMU Foundation side
obviously goes to our cancer research projects, our patient care projects,
in Austin's playroom initiatives. So since our foundation started, we've
raised over forty million dollars for our cancer research projects
here in Pittsburgh. We've also built forty four Austin's playrooms
in medical facilities across mostly here in Pittsburgh, across the
(02:14):
country as well.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
All right, break those down each one, tell us about
each entity.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Sure, So our research project where we've gifted about forty
million dollars for those projects highlighted, Like, our most recent
gift was to Children's Hospital to establish the Mario the
Mew Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research, where we basically brought
all the cancer research projects at Children's Hospital together under
one umbrella. So the idea being to keep the best
researchers here in Pittsburgh to do clinical trials here in Pittsburgh,
(02:40):
so people don't have to travel away. Just we want
to do all this research here and keep the best
researchers here in Pittsburgh. So that was a five million
dollar gift from the foundation that UPMC actually matched for
a ten million dollar project.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So that's one example of where the proceeds from this
event will go.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
To and the research. What specifically, what's the goal for
the research?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Goal is to find a cure for cancer in the end,
but you know, more immediately, it's to have these clinical
trials where we're we're taking small steps forward where I
think the number now is eighty five percent of pediatric
cancer patients will will be cancer free at some point
in their life. Expectancy is over five years, which is
(03:20):
an improved statistic over the past couple of years. So
obviously the goal is to find a cure, but to
also have clinical trials in some new ways for patients
to extend their lives.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Now, is this kind of an extension of is this
Mario's pet project because of what his is? His cancer battle?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Oh? Sure, And everything the MW Foundation does is based
around the le New family and their experiences, so obviously
Mario's battle with cancer. We started Austin's play Rooms because
of Mario and Natalie's experience with their son Austin, who
has spent seventy one days in the NICU, and they
realized while he was in the hospital, they had nothing
to do for his sisters. So that's when Natalie, they
were driving home one of the first nights, and said
(03:59):
we need to do something about this and create playrooms.
So Austin's Playrooms was born from the idea that they
needed somewhere for Austin's siblings to be while he was
in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And it started here in Pittsburgh, but it has spread
state wide.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Sure, our first one was at McGee Women's Hospital, and
then we sent we went statewide. We're actually in Ohio,
we're in West Virginia. Oh, it's in other states as
other states as well. Our newest one is in Harrisburg
upmc Harrisburg. And then we also have military playrooms across
the country. We have four playrooms. Highlighted one is one
at Walter Reed.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
You're a busy boy, aren't you.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
The foundation has a lot going on. Yeah, yes, it's
a good thing.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Don't want to get too far without mentioning. The registration
is now for the Pittsburgh Penguins six point six k
Run and Family Walk presented by hire Mark, coming up
on October fifth. Virtual participants can walk right now. You
could be participating in the walk right now as we speak,
and if somebody wants to sign up, you go to
the website.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Sure, yeah, you go to Marie Lemue dot org. That'll
take you to our registration website. You can sign up.
You can do it virtually, so you can sign up
today and run today and submit your time and then
we'll send you your shirt and metal after the race.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Hopefully you can spell Lemieux better than I do. I
always have to, always have to look up.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah. And one other thing about the race. The in
person race this year is again Sunday, October fifth. We're
actually going to celebrate Mario's birthday same day, October fifth.
This year, Mario turned sixty on October fifth, so we're
gonna celebrate his birthday at the start, So that'll be
something different for this year. But we have a lot
of cool experiences at the race. In the morning. We
have a nice little finish line festival at the end
of the race, and the race course is great, starting
(05:29):
at the arena, ending at the arena, and at Mario
statue outside the arena on Center Avenue.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
What is that like to see Mario and the statue.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, and I should mention you Mario is always at
the finish line, always high five and finishers on the
six point six k side. He puts this event on
his calendar every year as soon as we have it.
He loves to show up. He's he's at the start line,
He'll fire the gun to start the race and then
he moves over to the finish line of high fives
every finisher. He stayed there till through the end last year,
to the last person finished.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Just so much for this community. And I think most
people know, but I don't think enough people do.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Oh yeah for sure. And like there'll be times where
he'll say, oh, you don't people don't want to see
me there, people don't want to do this, or yeah,
people won't want to people won't be interested in seeing me.
I'm like, no, no, they're pretty interested in seeing you.
And I think it's a really I mean, people come
back every year just to get that high five from
Aria out to finish line.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, I would, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Pretty cool all right.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So other than the the six point six k run
and family walk, what other fundraisers do you feature throughout
the year.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah. We actually had a few golf events here. We
have a Club sixty six, which is our young Professionals group.
We had a golf event at Diamond Run in May
that we do every year, and we also just had
at the end of August our Wounded Heroes golf event
where we raise money for our military playrooms as well
as some other military charities here in Pittsburgh. That event
at Allegheny Country Club.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
When did you start the military rooms?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Military rooms started, Oh about fifteen years ago or so. Yeah, Yeah,
those are those are challenging just with changes in administrations
and things having getting those built. But yeah, so we
have we had four at one time. I think we
have three that are open right now.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Tell me about your role with the foundation.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, so I actually started on Mario's public golf tournament
years back in early two thousands, so I was the
operations manager for the event, and then foundation has evolved
to be way more than just that one singular golf event.
So now we do all of these events and general
fundraisers and collect donations. So now I'm the executive director
of the Foundation, so I oversee a lot of our
(07:25):
events and our general fundraising and our social media and
all the things that come along with that. So yeah,
and that's myal.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So what's what's your biggest challenge as your role.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I think our biggest challenge is leveraging just using Mario correctly,
because I think what people obviously you think of Mario Lemu.
I think he just has this sort of aura about him. Sure,
and I think everything he does is done to high quality.
So we hold ourselves to that standard of everything we
do is up to the standard of Mario Lemu, and
it's up to standard of doing well for others. So
(07:57):
that's our biggest challenge, is just leading up to the
bar that's in our.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Heads, you know. No, I think that's a microcosm of Pittsburgh.
I think we he has led this community through example
for decades, and I think that makes sense that you
want to you don't want to disappoint Mario well, sure,
and his expectations are probably pretty high.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Sure, and I've worked here for twenty five years. Nancy
Angus is our president of our foundation as well. She's
been here longer than me, and so she has the
same holds us all to the same standard. And as
a team, you know, we recognize, you know, what Mario
means to the city, so we obviously want to live
up to that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Well, his expectations as a player was pretty high, sure,
and then as an owner was really high. And so
the expectations even for a foundation is probably pretty.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
High's that's for sure, and that's why we we we
get a lot of requests for gifts. We are very
selective on what we do with the funds and what
research projects we take on just a to meet, you know,
the things that matter to the Mews and their family
and the foundation, but things that we want to make
sure we you know, we're contributing the best way possible.
A good exact sample of that is our gift. We
(09:01):
made a children's hospital a few years back for lymphoma,
where we really focus the gift on rare and hard
to treat lymphomas for children. It's research that wasn't being done.
They have to go specifically to do these things, and
people sometimes aren't willing to fund projects that might not
be successful. But so those children have you know, they're
getting a kind of lymphoma where they basically had no hope.
(09:22):
So we're looking to fund things like that which will
give a group of people who didn't have any hope
some sort of hope moving forward. So it's projects like
that that we like to do in people that need
it because we need this research to be done.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So tell me about your team.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
We were a very small team. We have Nancy I
mentioned and myself and then under us we have staff
of four people, so six of us in one of
those is part time. So it's yeah, we all have
a lot, we all wear a lot of hats and
do a different projects. But yeah, we work very well together.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
All right. So for the six point six k run
and family walk, do you need volunteers? Are you accepting volunteers?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah? Sure, same same website, you can go to Mariolmue
dot org. We need up to three hundred volunteers for
race day, so they all everybody. You'll get a race shirt,
you'll get a excuse me, a volunteer shirt. And those
volunteer shirts are presented my piots. So the B's and
UFC Gym, they're a volunteer sponsors. So our volunteer force
of three hundred people will be roaming around PPG pants
arena there.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Well, this is your thirteenth year and you're probably it's
probably a well oiled machine. What were you there at
the at the beginning when they first started this and
what was it like, how is the how is the
walk and run evolved?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I was the first year. I think we decided we
were going to do it two months beforehand, so we
quickly put it together. So we quickly put it together.
I mean we kind of had Mario's birthday on a
radar in the start of the season to do that.
But since then, so we've evolved. Now we added the
walk and now we actually have a pet walk that's
actually presented by Clearview Federal Credit Union this year. So
we have like a pets water station on the course.
(10:53):
You can get a pet bandana as part of your registration,
so instead of a finishing metal for your dog, you
can get a finished for bandana, which is kind of
a cool thing. And then we have two water stations
on the course. We've done a number of iterations over
the year's COVID kind of changed things where we had
a big, big finish line festival where everyone stayed afterwards,
but we don't really do that anymore, but we still
have a finish line. We have a festival where you
(11:14):
can we have our P three r's there who are
operations team, so you can get p through our merchandise.
You can get stuff from our vendors as well, so
it's just a fun, fun environment afterwards. And we also
have a lot of alumni players that'll be at the
finish line with Mario as well.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Do you have any sponsors you would like to mention?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Sure, a kid Marks are a big title sponsor and
they've been our sponsor for I think the last ten years,
and then UFC, Jim and Piots so other Bees is
our volunteer sponsor, and Clearview Federal Credit Union is our
pet walk sponsor.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You need about three hundred volunteers. Do you have that
already banked or do you still need volunteers.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, we need volunteers. Yes, you can still sign up
to I think we have about one hundred and fifty
of our three hundred so far, so we'll continue to
add to those. But yeah, it's number of fun jobs.
A lot of them are at the arena race morning.
You can sign up to help distribute bibs or pass
out race shirts, or be at the finish line handing
out metals, so fun stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So not any heavy lifting, it's pretty easy, not a
lot of heavy You just need bodies.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
We need some bodies and we need people because again
it's handing out things in the finish line, shoot waters, bananas,
metals to the finisher. So that's kind of the most
heavy lifting you'd have.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
To do logistically. This is a heavy lift for you though.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Oh yeah, it's a big event now in you're thirteen.
We I hope we know what we're doing by this point.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
You have more than two months.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
To plan now, yeah, yeah, but no, yeah, it's and
we work with P three R. Like I said, they
do our operations and help us with the city and
obviously closing down city streets is a big deal, so we.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Work with that. But we have a lot of this
down to a systems. They handle the marathon, so they're.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Going to handle the marathon, so they know what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
We're talking with Andrew Parrish, executive director of the Mario
Lemieux Foundation. There Pittsburgh Penguins six point six k Run
and Family Walk presented by Harmark is coming up on
October fifth. For those who are just tuning in, tell
us everything we need to know about the one.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah. So it's it's a great it's a great mornings.
It starts at eight o'clock in the morning. Runners will
go off first and then the walkers behind them. We
start at PEPG Paints Arena and at PPG Paints Serena,
go across two bridges and back through the Armstrong Tunnel.
So it's a really fun, cool race course. We have
some fun things around. We have a pet walk presented
by a Clearview Federal Credit Union, so you can sign up,
bring your dog participate in the event that way, or
(13:22):
if you're doing it virtually, you can also have your
dog be involved and will mail you that pet bandana
afterwards as part of your virtual race packet.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
More importantly, how much money are you going to? What's
your what's your goal for this year?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Usually our goal is to raise over two hundred thousand
from the event, which we spit with the Pittsburgh Penguins
Foundation every year. So, like I said, we've raised close
to two hundred millions and sorry, excuse me two millions
and sorry exception.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Well, yeah, that'd be great. Any benefactor who was to
pitch in two hundred million year.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
So you'll haven't be back in thirty years, so we
can say.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
That, okay. And for those who missed, what is this
money earmark for? Because that's so? What are the three
kind of like the three things that you guys focus on.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Sure, And this is one of the events that we
co work on with the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. So the
Maryland Mew Foundation we benefit cancer research. What is the
difference between the foundation, Yeah, so the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation
is this is the official charity of the team itself,
so they have their own own projects and initiatives. They
do youth hockey.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Because it's so hard to parse between Mario and the
team because they're so intertwined.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
People think, yeah, people think the team, the Penguins Foundation,
the Mew Foundation are all the same thing, right, So
but it's good that we work together. We work with
a team on a daily basis in the Penguins Foundation.
But the two main events that we work together on
are the six point six k run as well as
the charity bag sale that we do every year usually
in March, March or April, where we sell six thousand
charity bags during a game. So that's the two big
(14:45):
fundraisers that we do together.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And what are the things that are the money is
here mark for So.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
For the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation, they do there they think
they have four pillars. They do education in youth hockey
and a lot of youth initiatives through the team and
then the Marriyol and mu founder where we do cancer research,
patient care in player rooms in medical facil All.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Right, we talked a little bit, but you know what,
for those who haven't who weren't listening earlier, kind of
tell us about the you know, the the the rooms,
the research and they and the what was the what
was the third one?
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Patient care?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Patient care?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, so I didn't really touch on that yet. So
our patient care projects is another thing that as effected
the Lemeux family was Mario has a fib so we've
done some heart research now at Alleghany Health Network, so
we partnered with them. We made a five million dollar
gift to them to establish them.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Now my heart goes out to Mario for his ailments,
but he but his Every time he gets an ailment,
the community benefits, So thank you, Mario.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
So and that's that's a thing we say all the time.
Good can come from bad. So I think that's what
we've been We always focus on. So and then Mario
Natalie are are adamant about you know, they've gone through
these things they can help others who are going through
the same things not have to struggle like they did.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Okay, we talked about a little bit about patient care.
What what are the other ones?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Obviously, our cancer research is what we were founded on,
so Mario's battle with Hodgkins disease. So we've given a
number of research gifts here around Pittsburgh, but our most
recent one was a five million dollar gift to the
Children's Hospital at Pittsburgh to establish the Mario the Mew
Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research, where we were bringing all
of the research at Children's Hospital under one umbrella, to
keep all the best researchers here in Pittsburgh, to do
(16:21):
clinical trials here in Pittsburgh, and just to try to
discover some new research that will give people hope.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
And then the special rooms that are in the hospitals.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Sure are Austin's Playrooms initiative where which started after Mario
Natalie had their son Austin. He was in the hospital
for seventy one days. And while he was in the
hospital when he was born, Lemuse discovered we don't have
anything to do with our siblings, and where are they
going to go when you're at the hospital visiting Austin.
So that's when they came up with the idea for
Austin's playrooms. Since then, we've built forty four Austin's playrooms
(16:50):
and medical facilities, mostly here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Really nice to go sixty six, it would be sixty
six ro.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Well, we'll get that. I think we never imagine when
we started this, and you thought we could build a
couple of playrooms and facilities. But we get requests now
from all over the country. It's just a matter of
you know, what size these rooms can be. But we
have a uniform play space where we have sort of
a color scheme and items we like to put in there,
some electronics and fun toys. So we try to go
(17:16):
in and put these play rooms in for families so
they have something. The idea was for not so much
the sick child, but for the siblings. Sure, but now
we have some of our some of our playrooms.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Are also we have a sick child. You know, you
have other siblings and they don't want to be you know,
you can't just leave them at home all the time
because you want to devote as much energy as you
have to that sick child. And so the other siblings
can have a place where they can be entertained, you
can they can be watched in that. I think it's
a great idea.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, and pe people never never think of the sibling obviously,
because you have the sick child, you need so much attention.
If you've got two or three siblings, what are you
doing with them? And you know, people, if they have
not had had a long, extended' day for a child
in the hospital, you don't think of these things. And
you probably don't know of an Austin's play room. So
if you can go through life and not having to
use an Austin's playroom, that's great.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
If you have you've ever been in a hospital and
maybe even in an emergency room and try to sit
in one of those chairs for fifteen twenty minutes, can
you imagine what a child when they would lose their
mind without something to do right now? The military room?
So when did that start? So that was about when
what are the military about?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Fifteen years ago and it was the same concept where
these military hospitals needed the same thing, and someone from
the Department of Navies heard about our rooms and actually
reached out to us and thought, you know this might
be a good fit for Walter Reed. They were building
a new hospital there, so we were able to get
in on the ground floor when they built a new
facility and we put an Austin's playroom in there. So
since then we've done a few other rooms and military
(18:41):
facilities across the country. But we have a golf outing
that benefits those rooms.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Wow. All right, So other than the you mentioned the
golf outings and then the what are some other fundraisers
that you have throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So we have a big Mary the Mew Fantasy Hockey
Camp that we do every year in February or March
of each year where we bring in seventy five guys
from across the world for a five day hockey camp
with Mario and some former NHL greats. So that's a
really cool event. That's one of our bigger fundraisers. Then
we do some golf events we do in Austin's Playroom.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Hold on, let me let me break that a little bit.
No no, no, no no, Because you know you're rubbing
elbows with Mario on a consistent basis, and then when
you go to this hockey camp, are you a hockey fan?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
I guess grew up a hockey fan. Actually, you grew
up in York, PA, so I was kind of on
the other side of the state York.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I know very So do you ever get starstruck with
some of those hockey players?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, for sure, And even even still when you see Mario,
you still get a little star show. We work with
a lot of people who see Mario all the time,
and he still just has this aura about him where
he's you just are a little you know, you're blown
away when you see him. But no, we get to
interacting with him all the time and he teach this
great all right, So I apologize I kind of interrupted
you're you're talking about some of the fundraisers.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
You talked about the Fantasy Camp.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Continue. Yeah, Hockey Camp is a really cool event. That's
another thing where we started a couple of months before
we actually had the first one, but we've done. I
think we're going into year fourteen of the Hockey Camp
this year, and we have guys from all over the
world come in for five days. They get NHL gear,
they get all the equipment, they get all the apparel.
They're on the ice at Beachy PPG Paints Arena, playing
hockey for four days, they get games, we go to
(20:21):
functions at the casino, we have parties with all these guys.
It's a really cool, fun event. But again, that's a
high end event that raises a lot of money. So
we do fun events, but we've got to make sure
we're turning around and the proceeds from the event go
to a great call.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Now, is the Run and Family Walk your keystone event
of the year.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, And that's the event that we always say that
we can. It's it's our main event with the Penguins
in our fan base, and it's a great way for
everyone to be involved with the foundation. We have our
registration fees anywhere from thirty five to fifty dollars pending
when you register, so anyone can participate if they want
to and come down to Pittsburgh support not only the
Marylyn Yew Foundation, in the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation to help
(21:00):
the team kick off the season.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And Mario's birthday too.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
And Mario's birthday this year, he's turning the big six
to oh, so yeah, we're gonna celebrate him at the
start line and wish him a happy birthday.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
We only have a couple of minutes left, So let's
really hit the run In Family Walk. Hard thirteenth annual
Pittsburgh Penguins six point six k run In Family Walk
presented by Hi Mark, coming up on October fifth. Tell
us all the details we need to know.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Sure again Sunday, October fifth. You can register now at
mariolimu dot org. You can sign up for our virtual
option as well, where you can sign up and run
anytime between now and race day and we'll mail you
your race shirt and your finishing metal after the race.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
And of course you have the walk, and you also
have the inclusion of the pets too.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Tell us about that. Yeah, we have the big Pet
walk as part of the family Walk. We have a
pet walk presented by a Clearview Federal Credit Union where
you can sign up and you can actually get a
dog bandana as your finish your prize for your dog.
So you'll get a finishing medal and your dog will
get the bandana.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
All right, And as you finish the race or the
walk and you get a high five from Mario, make
sure you wish him happy birthday because it is that day.
It is October fifth, is his birthday, right.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
That's right? And in this year too. Our design, sure,
our theme is the finish line, so we did like
a cartoon of the finish line area with Mario high fiving.
So it's kind of a different design that we've done
this year.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
All right, is there anything that we missed or something
that you that we didn't cover that you want you
want to mention now?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I don't think so. Yeah. The big thing now is
just six point six K, looking to really blow that
out on October fifth and get as many people as
we can. We're expecting about thirty five hundred in person people.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I know you're looking to raise over two hundred thousand
dollars this year. How many participants are are you hoping
to get it?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, we'd hope to have over over three thousand in
person and another one thousand virtually. So we're anywhere from
four thousand to forty five hundred people participate in the
six point six k this year.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
And if you're if you're not willing to participate, you
can always volunteer and you can get you can get
more information on the walk and run and the volunteers
at the website, which is Mario Lemue dot org. Andrew,
I really appreciate it. In fact, you are very kind
to give us a couple of gifts, so I really
appreciate your time and I really preciate you what you
(23:00):
do for the community. And so happy birthday, Mario, and
good luck with you.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Event no, thank you and thanks for having us in
all right.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
So as always, if you have any comments of concern
or an idea for a future program, please email us
from this radio station's website. I'm Johnny heart Well, thank
you so much for listening.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
We ask parents who adopted teens to share their journey.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I think my biggest challenge was getting through to him
to understand that love is real and you have goals
in mind, you have things that want to happen, and
I want to.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Help you get there. Sometimes people tend to shy away
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Speaker 5 (23:47):
Teenagers because they feel like they've lost so much, but
there's still so much to gain.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
Just knowing that there's just that other person that cares
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There, it feels great and they've done so much for
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for just having.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Them in my life.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
I think it's been the best decision because I gained
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If I was down and out, he'd be there.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
Learn about adopting a team from foster Care. You can't
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learn more. A message brought to you by adopt Us Kids,
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Speaker 3 (24:30):
I'm a pretty great multitasker. I can wash dishes and
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I can even order lunch while doing my homework. But
I can't use my phone while driving. A distracted driver
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be a multitasker.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Don't drive distracted.
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A message brought to you by the National Highway Traffic
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Speaker 2 (25:00):
Mom's early Alzheimer's psagnosis was hard to take, and when
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Speaker 5 (25:11):
Early detection gave us more time to seek out information
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If you or your family or noticing changes, it could
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Speaker 4 (25:30):
You wanted to be cool, which led you to smoking,
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that special someone, which led to starting a life with them,
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(25:50):
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Speaker 5 (26:00):
Don't act like that, don't wear that, don't think that.
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(26:22):
Love your mind find mental health resources at Loveyourmind Today
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Institute in the AD Council
And welcome in. This is a public affairs program shedding
the light on the interest, the issues and concerns at
the greater Pittsburgh area. Good morning, My name is Johnny
hert Well. My guest in studio Andrew Parrish, Executive director
of the Mary Elmu Foundation Mary Elmu Foundation. It hardly
needs any kind of introduction.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Huh yeah, well thanks for having me, Johnny, I we
appreciate it. Yes, Since nineteen ninety three we've been in
Pittsburgh raising of money for cancer research and patient care.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
And you can register now for the twenty twenty five
Pittsburgh Penguins six point six k Run and Family Walk
presented by high Mark, which is coming up on October fifth.
But you could be doing the walk right now. You
could do it virtually, right.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
You sure can. We have a virtual option where you
can run or walk the six point six k any
way you like. Any you walk, you can run, treadmill, bike,
you can do any any way you want to do
it virtually and submit your time and then we'll mail
you your race shirt and finishing metal actress.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Awesome, So tell us everything about now you want the
event to be You know, you want a gathering of people,
So tell us everything we need to know about your
event coming up on October fifth.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Sure, Sunday, October fifth. You can register now at Mario
Lemu dot org. We have it's basically kicks off the
Penguin season every year. This is our thirteenth year of
the six point six K. We've raised almost two million
dollars since the Start and Justice event alone for the
Mario the MW Foundation in the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. But
it's a fun morning, it's a fun race. We start
at PPG Pains Arena and end at PPG Pains Arena.
(01:25):
We go over two bridges, run through a tunnel. So
it's a really unique race course that we have. I
think we're the only race in Pittsburgh that goes through
a tunnel.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Well, I also think it might be the only race
that I know of that is six point six kay.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Obviously the unique distance from Ario's jersey number. Yeah. So
we've six point six K and we have the family Walk,
which is three point three k.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Okay. Uh So you started thirteen years ago and you've
raised over two million dollars. What is that money earmark for?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Yeah, So we split it between the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation
and the Mario the MW Foundation. The LEMU Foundation side
obviously goes to our cancer research projects, our patient care projects,
in Austin's playroom initiatives. So since our foundation started, we've
raised over forty million dollars for our cancer research projects
here in Pittsburgh. We've also built forty four Austin's playrooms
in medical facilities across mostly here in Pittsburgh, across the
(02:14):
country as well.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
All right, break those down each one, tell us about
each entity.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Sure, So our research project where we've gifted about forty
million dollars for those projects highlighted, Like, our most recent
gift was to Children's Hospital to establish the Mario the
Mew Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research, where we basically brought
all the cancer research projects at Children's Hospital together under
one umbrella. So the idea being to keep the best
researchers here in Pittsburgh to do clinical trials here in Pittsburgh,
(02:40):
so people don't have to travel away. Just we want
to do all this research here and keep the best
researchers here in Pittsburgh. So that was a five million
dollar gift from the foundation that UPMC actually matched for
a ten million dollar project.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So that's one example of where the proceeds from this
event will go.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
To and the research. What specifically, what's the goal for
the research?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Goal is to find a cure for cancer in the end,
but you know, more immediately, it's to have these clinical
trials where we're we're taking small steps forward where I
think the number now is eighty five percent of pediatric
cancer patients will will be cancer free at some point
in their life. Expectancy is over five years, which is
(03:20):
an improved statistic over the past couple of years. So
obviously the goal is to find a cure, but to
also have clinical trials in some new ways for patients
to extend their lives.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Now, is this kind of an extension of is this
Mario's pet project because of what his is? His cancer battle?
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Oh? Sure, And everything the MW Foundation does is based
around the le New family and their experiences, so obviously
Mario's battle with cancer. We started Austin's play Rooms because
of Mario and Natalie's experience with their son Austin, who
has spent seventy one days in the NICU, and they
realized while he was in the hospital, they had nothing
to do for his sisters. So that's when Natalie, they
were driving home one of the first nights, and said
(03:59):
we need to do something about this and create playrooms.
So Austin's Playrooms was born from the idea that they
needed somewhere for Austin's siblings to be while he was
in the hospital.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
And it started here in Pittsburgh, but it has spread
state wide.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Sure, our first one was at McGee Women's Hospital, and
then we sent we went statewide. We're actually in Ohio,
we're in West Virginia. Oh, it's in other states as
other states as well. Our newest one is in Harrisburg
upmc Harrisburg. And then we also have military playrooms across
the country. We have four playrooms. Highlighted one is one
at Walter Reed.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
You're a busy boy, aren't you.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
The foundation has a lot going on. Yeah, yes, it's
a good thing.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
All right.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Don't want to get too far without mentioning. The registration
is now for the Pittsburgh Penguins six point six k
Run and Family Walk presented by hire Mark, coming up
on October fifth. Virtual participants can walk right now. You
could be participating in the walk right now as we speak,
and if somebody wants to sign up, you go to
the website.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Sure, yeah, you go to Marie Lemue dot org. That'll
take you to our registration website. You can sign up.
You can do it virtually, so you can sign up
today and run today and submit your time and then
we'll send you your shirt and metal after the race.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Hopefully you can spell Lemieux better than I do. I
always have to, always have to look up.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
Yeah. And one other thing about the race. The in
person race this year is again Sunday, October fifth. We're
actually going to celebrate Mario's birthday same day, October fifth.
This year, Mario turned sixty on October fifth, so we're
gonna celebrate his birthday at the start, So that'll be
something different for this year. But we have a lot
of cool experiences at the race. In the morning. We
have a nice little finish line festival at the end
of the race, and the race course is great, starting
(05:29):
at the arena, ending at the arena, and at Mario
statue outside the arena on Center Avenue.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
What is that like to see Mario and the statue.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, and I should mention you Mario is always at
the finish line, always high five and finishers on the
six point six k side. He puts this event on
his calendar every year as soon as we have it.
He loves to show up. He's he's at the start line,
He'll fire the gun to start the race and then
he moves over to the finish line of high fives
every finisher. He stayed there till through the end last year,
to the last person finished.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Just so much for this community. And I think most
people know, but I don't think enough people do.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Oh yeah for sure. And like there'll be times where
he'll say, oh, you don't people don't want to see
me there, people don't want to do this, or yeah,
people won't want to people won't be interested in seeing me.
I'm like, no, no, they're pretty interested in seeing you.
And I think it's a really I mean, people come
back every year just to get that high five from
Aria out to finish line.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, I would, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Pretty cool all right.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
So other than the the six point six k run
and family walk, what other fundraisers do you feature throughout
the year.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah. We actually had a few golf events here. We
have a Club sixty six, which is our young Professionals group.
We had a golf event at Diamond Run in May
that we do every year, and we also just had
at the end of August our Wounded Heroes golf event
where we raise money for our military playrooms as well
as some other military charities here in Pittsburgh. That event
at Allegheny Country Club.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
When did you start the military rooms?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Military rooms started, Oh about fifteen years ago or so. Yeah, Yeah,
those are those are challenging just with changes in administrations
and things having getting those built. But yeah, so we
have we had four at one time. I think we
have three that are open right now.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Tell me about your role with the foundation.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, so I actually started on Mario's public golf tournament
years back in early two thousands, so I was the
operations manager for the event, and then foundation has evolved
to be way more than just that one singular golf event.
So now we do all of these events and general
fundraisers and collect donations. So now I'm the executive director
of the Foundation, so I oversee a lot of our
(07:25):
events and our general fundraising and our social media and
all the things that come along with that. So yeah,
and that's myal.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
So what's what's your biggest challenge as your role.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I think our biggest challenge is leveraging just using Mario correctly,
because I think what people obviously you think of Mario Lemu.
I think he just has this sort of aura about him. Sure,
and I think everything he does is done to high quality.
So we hold ourselves to that standard of everything we
do is up to the standard of Mario Lemu, and
it's up to standard of doing well for others. So
(07:57):
that's our biggest challenge, is just leading up to the
bar that's in our.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Heads, you know. No, I think that's a microcosm of Pittsburgh.
I think we he has led this community through example
for decades, and I think that makes sense that you
want to you don't want to disappoint Mario well, sure,
and his expectations are probably pretty high.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Sure, and I've worked here for twenty five years. Nancy
Angus is our president of our foundation as well. She's
been here longer than me, and so she has the
same holds us all to the same standard. And as
a team, you know, we recognize, you know, what Mario
means to the city, so we obviously want to live
up to that.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Well, his expectations as a player was pretty high, sure,
and then as an owner was really high. And so
the expectations even for a foundation is probably pretty.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
High's that's for sure, and that's why we we we
get a lot of requests for gifts. We are very
selective on what we do with the funds and what
research projects we take on just a to meet, you know,
the things that matter to the Mews and their family
and the foundation, but things that we want to make
sure we you know, we're contributing the best way possible.
A good exact sample of that is our gift. We
(09:01):
made a children's hospital a few years back for lymphoma,
where we really focus the gift on rare and hard
to treat lymphomas for children. It's research that wasn't being done.
They have to go specifically to do these things, and
people sometimes aren't willing to fund projects that might not
be successful. But so those children have you know, they're
getting a kind of lymphoma where they basically had no hope.
(09:22):
So we're looking to fund things like that which will
give a group of people who didn't have any hope
some sort of hope moving forward. So it's projects like
that that we like to do in people that need
it because we need this research to be done.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
So tell me about your team.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
We were a very small team. We have Nancy I
mentioned and myself and then under us we have staff
of four people, so six of us in one of
those is part time. So it's yeah, we all have
a lot, we all wear a lot of hats and
do a different projects. But yeah, we work very well together.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
All right. So for the six point six k run
and family walk, do you need volunteers? Are you accepting volunteers?
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Yeah? Sure, same same website, you can go to Mariolmue
dot org. We need up to three hundred volunteers for
race day, so they all everybody. You'll get a race shirt,
you'll get a excuse me, a volunteer shirt. And those
volunteer shirts are presented my piots. So the B's and
UFC Gym, they're a volunteer sponsors. So our volunteer force
of three hundred people will be roaming around PPG pants
arena there.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Well, this is your thirteenth year and you're probably it's
probably a well oiled machine. What were you there at
the at the beginning when they first started this and
what was it like, how is the how is the
walk and run evolved?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I was the first year. I think we decided we
were going to do it two months beforehand, so we
quickly put it together. So we quickly put it together.
I mean we kind of had Mario's birthday on a
radar in the start of the season to do that.
But since then, so we've evolved. Now we added the
walk and now we actually have a pet walk that's
actually presented by Clearview Federal Credit Union this year. So
we have like a pets water station on the course.
(10:53):
You can get a pet bandana as part of your registration,
so instead of a finishing metal for your dog, you
can get a finished for bandana, which is kind of
a cool thing. And then we have two water stations
on the course. We've done a number of iterations over
the year's COVID kind of changed things where we had
a big, big finish line festival where everyone stayed afterwards,
but we don't really do that anymore, but we still
have a finish line. We have a festival where you
(11:14):
can we have our P three r's there who are
operations team, so you can get p through our merchandise.
You can get stuff from our vendors as well, so
it's just a fun, fun environment afterwards. And we also
have a lot of alumni players that'll be at the
finish line with Mario as well.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Do you have any sponsors you would like to mention?
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Sure, a kid Marks are a big title sponsor and
they've been our sponsor for I think the last ten years,
and then UFC, Jim and Piots so other Bees is
our volunteer sponsor, and Clearview Federal Credit Union is our
pet walk sponsor.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
You need about three hundred volunteers. Do you have that
already banked or do you still need volunteers.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, we need volunteers. Yes, you can still sign up
to I think we have about one hundred and fifty
of our three hundred so far, so we'll continue to
add to those. But yeah, it's number of fun jobs.
A lot of them are at the arena race morning.
You can sign up to help distribute bibs or pass
out race shirts, or be at the finish line handing
out metals, so fun stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
So not any heavy lifting, it's pretty easy, not a
lot of heavy You just need bodies.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
We need some bodies and we need people because again
it's handing out things in the finish line, shoot waters, bananas,
metals to the finisher. So that's kind of the most
heavy lifting you'd have.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
To do logistically. This is a heavy lift for you though.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Oh yeah, it's a big event now in you're thirteen.
We I hope we know what we're doing by this point.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
You have more than two months.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
To plan now, yeah, yeah, but no, yeah, it's and
we work with P three R. Like I said, they
do our operations and help us with the city and
obviously closing down city streets is a big deal, so we.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
Work with that. But we have a lot of this
down to a systems. They handle the marathon, so they're.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Going to handle the marathon, so they know what they're doing.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
We're talking with Andrew Parrish, executive director of the Mario
Lemieux Foundation. There Pittsburgh Penguins six point six k Run
and Family Walk presented by Harmark is coming up on
October fifth. For those who are just tuning in, tell
us everything we need to know about the one.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Yeah. So it's it's a great it's a great mornings.
It starts at eight o'clock in the morning. Runners will
go off first and then the walkers behind them. We
start at PEPG Paints Arena and at PPG Paints Serena,
go across two bridges and back through the Armstrong Tunnel.
So it's a really fun, cool race course. We have
some fun things around. We have a pet walk presented
by a Clearview Federal Credit Union, so you can sign up,
bring your dog participate in the event that way, or
(13:22):
if you're doing it virtually, you can also have your
dog be involved and will mail you that pet bandana
afterwards as part of your virtual race packet.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
More importantly, how much money are you going to? What's
your what's your goal for this year?
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Usually our goal is to raise over two hundred thousand
from the event, which we spit with the Pittsburgh Penguins
Foundation every year. So, like I said, we've raised close
to two hundred millions and sorry, excuse me two millions
and sorry exception.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
Well, yeah, that'd be great. Any benefactor who was to
pitch in two hundred million year.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
So you'll haven't be back in thirty years, so we
can say.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
That, okay. And for those who missed, what is this
money earmark for? Because that's so? What are the three
kind of like the three things that you guys focus on.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Sure, And this is one of the events that we
co work on with the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation. So the
Maryland Mew Foundation we benefit cancer research. What is the
difference between the foundation, Yeah, so the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation
is this is the official charity of the team itself,
so they have their own own projects and initiatives. They
do youth hockey.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Because it's so hard to parse between Mario and the
team because they're so intertwined.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
People think, yeah, people think the team, the Penguins Foundation,
the Mew Foundation are all the same thing, right, So
but it's good that we work together. We work with
a team on a daily basis in the Penguins Foundation.
But the two main events that we work together on
are the six point six k run as well as
the charity bag sale that we do every year usually
in March, March or April, where we sell six thousand
charity bags during a game. So that's the two big
(14:45):
fundraisers that we do together.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
And what are the things that are the money is
here mark for So.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
For the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation, they do there they think
they have four pillars. They do education in youth hockey
and a lot of youth initiatives through the team and
then the Marriyol and mu founder where we do cancer research,
patient care in player rooms in medical facil All.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Right, we talked a little bit, but you know what,
for those who haven't who weren't listening earlier, kind of
tell us about the you know, the the the rooms,
the research and they and the what was the what
was the third one?
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Patient care?
Speaker 1 (15:15):
Patient care?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, so I didn't really touch on that yet. So
our patient care projects is another thing that as effected
the Lemeux family was Mario has a fib so we've
done some heart research now at Alleghany Health Network, so
we partnered with them. We made a five million dollar
gift to them to establish them.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
Now my heart goes out to Mario for his ailments,
but he but his Every time he gets an ailment,
the community benefits, So thank you, Mario.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
So and that's that's a thing we say all the time.
Good can come from bad. So I think that's what
we've been We always focus on. So and then Mario
Natalie are are adamant about you know, they've gone through
these things they can help others who are going through
the same things not have to struggle like they did.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Okay, we talked about a little bit about patient care.
What what are the other ones?
Speaker 2 (15:59):
Obviously, our cancer research is what we were founded on,
so Mario's battle with Hodgkins disease. So we've given a
number of research gifts here around Pittsburgh, but our most
recent one was a five million dollar gift to the
Children's Hospital at Pittsburgh to establish the Mario the Mew
Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research, where we were bringing all
of the research at Children's Hospital under one umbrella, to
keep all the best researchers here in Pittsburgh, to do
(16:21):
clinical trials here in Pittsburgh, and just to try to
discover some new research that will give people hope.
Speaker 1 (16:26):
And then the special rooms that are in the hospitals.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Sure are Austin's Playrooms initiative where which started after Mario
Natalie had their son Austin. He was in the hospital
for seventy one days. And while he was in the
hospital when he was born, Lemuse discovered we don't have
anything to do with our siblings, and where are they
going to go when you're at the hospital visiting Austin.
So that's when they came up with the idea for
Austin's playrooms. Since then, we've built forty four Austin's playrooms
(16:50):
and medical facilities, mostly here in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Really nice to go sixty six, it would be sixty
six ro.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Well, we'll get that. I think we never imagine when
we started this, and you thought we could build a
couple of playrooms and facilities. But we get requests now
from all over the country. It's just a matter of
you know, what size these rooms can be. But we
have a uniform play space where we have sort of
a color scheme and items we like to put in there,
some electronics and fun toys. So we try to go
(17:16):
in and put these play rooms in for families so
they have something. The idea was for not so much
the sick child, but for the siblings. Sure, but now
we have some of our some of our playrooms.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Are also we have a sick child. You know, you
have other siblings and they don't want to be you know,
you can't just leave them at home all the time
because you want to devote as much energy as you
have to that sick child. And so the other siblings
can have a place where they can be entertained, you
can they can be watched in that. I think it's
a great idea.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, and pe people never never think of the sibling obviously,
because you have the sick child, you need so much attention.
If you've got two or three siblings, what are you
doing with them? And you know, people, if they have
not had had a long, extended' day for a child
in the hospital, you don't think of these things. And
you probably don't know of an Austin's play room. So
if you can go through life and not having to
use an Austin's playroom, that's great.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
If you have you've ever been in a hospital and
maybe even in an emergency room and try to sit
in one of those chairs for fifteen twenty minutes, can
you imagine what a child when they would lose their
mind without something to do right now? The military room?
So when did that start? So that was about when
what are the military about?
Speaker 2 (18:20):
Fifteen years ago and it was the same concept where
these military hospitals needed the same thing, and someone from
the Department of Navies heard about our rooms and actually
reached out to us and thought, you know this might
be a good fit for Walter Reed. They were building
a new hospital there, so we were able to get
in on the ground floor when they built a new
facility and we put an Austin's playroom in there. So
since then we've done a few other rooms and military
(18:41):
facilities across the country. But we have a golf outing
that benefits those rooms.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Wow. All right, So other than the you mentioned the
golf outings and then the what are some other fundraisers
that you have throughout the year.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
So we have a big Mary the Mew Fantasy Hockey
Camp that we do every year in February or March
of each year where we bring in seventy five guys
from across the world for a five day hockey camp
with Mario and some former NHL greats. So that's a
really cool event. That's one of our bigger fundraisers. Then
we do some golf events we do in Austin's Playroom.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Hold on, let me let me break that a little bit.
No no, no, no no, Because you know you're rubbing
elbows with Mario on a consistent basis, and then when
you go to this hockey camp, are you a hockey fan?
Speaker 2 (19:25):
I guess grew up a hockey fan. Actually, you grew
up in York, PA, so I was kind of on
the other side of the state York.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
I know very So do you ever get starstruck with
some of those hockey players?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, for sure, And even even still when you see Mario,
you still get a little star show. We work with
a lot of people who see Mario all the time,
and he still just has this aura about him where
he's you just are a little you know, you're blown
away when you see him. But no, we get to
interacting with him all the time and he teach this
great all right, So I apologize I kind of interrupted
you're you're talking about some of the fundraisers.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
You talked about the Fantasy Camp.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Continue. Yeah, Hockey Camp is a really cool event. That's
another thing where we started a couple of months before
we actually had the first one, but we've done. I
think we're going into year fourteen of the Hockey Camp
this year, and we have guys from all over the
world come in for five days. They get NHL gear,
they get all the equipment, they get all the apparel.
They're on the ice at Beachy PPG Paints Arena, playing
hockey for four days, they get games, we go to
(20:21):
functions at the casino, we have parties with all these guys.
It's a really cool, fun event. But again, that's a
high end event that raises a lot of money. So
we do fun events, but we've got to make sure
we're turning around and the proceeds from the event go
to a great call.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Now, is the Run and Family Walk your keystone event
of the year.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Yeah, And that's the event that we always say that
we can. It's it's our main event with the Penguins
in our fan base, and it's a great way for
everyone to be involved with the foundation. We have our
registration fees anywhere from thirty five to fifty dollars pending
when you register, so anyone can participate if they want
to and come down to Pittsburgh support not only the
Marylyn Yew Foundation, in the Pittsburgh Penguins Foundation to help
(21:00):
the team kick off the season.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And Mario's birthday too.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
And Mario's birthday this year, he's turning the big six
to oh, so yeah, we're gonna celebrate him at the
start line and wish him a happy birthday.
Speaker 3 (21:09):
All right.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
We only have a couple of minutes left, So let's
really hit the run In Family Walk. Hard thirteenth annual
Pittsburgh Penguins six point six k run In Family Walk
presented by Hi Mark, coming up on October fifth. Tell
us all the details we need to know.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Sure again Sunday, October fifth. You can register now at
mariolimu dot org. You can sign up for our virtual
option as well, where you can sign up and run
anytime between now and race day and we'll mail you
your race shirt and your finishing metal after the race.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
And of course you have the walk, and you also
have the inclusion of the pets too.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Tell us about that. Yeah, we have the big Pet
walk as part of the family Walk. We have a
pet walk presented by a Clearview Federal Credit Union where
you can sign up and you can actually get a
dog bandana as your finish your prize for your dog.
So you'll get a finishing medal and your dog will
get the bandana.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
All right, And as you finish the race or the
walk and you get a high five from Mario, make
sure you wish him happy birthday because it is that day.
It is October fifth, is his birthday, right.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
That's right? And in this year too. Our design, sure,
our theme is the finish line, so we did like
a cartoon of the finish line area with Mario high fiving.
So it's kind of a different design that we've done
this year.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
All right, is there anything that we missed or something
that you that we didn't cover that you want you
want to mention now?
Speaker 2 (22:17):
I don't think so. Yeah. The big thing now is
just six point six K, looking to really blow that
out on October fifth and get as many people as
we can. We're expecting about thirty five hundred in person people.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I know you're looking to raise over two hundred thousand
dollars this year. How many participants are are you hoping
to get it?
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Yeah, we'd hope to have over over three thousand in
person and another one thousand virtually. So we're anywhere from
four thousand to forty five hundred people participate in the
six point six k this year.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
And if you're if you're not willing to participate, you
can always volunteer and you can get you can get
more information on the walk and run and the volunteers
at the website, which is Mario Lemue dot org. Andrew,
I really appreciate it. In fact, you are very kind
to give us a couple of gifts, so I really
appreciate your time and I really preciate you what you
(23:00):
do for the community. And so happy birthday, Mario, and
good luck with you.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Event no, thank you and thanks for having us in
all right.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
So as always, if you have any comments of concern
or an idea for a future program, please email us
from this radio station's website. I'm Johnny heart Well, thank
you so much for listening.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
We ask parents who adopted teens to share their journey.
Speaker 6 (23:33):
I think my biggest challenge was getting through to him
to understand that love is real and you have goals
in mind, you have things that want to happen, and
I want to.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Help you get there. Sometimes people tend to shy away
from wanting to adopt.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Teenagers because they feel like they've lost so much, but
there's still so much to gain.
Speaker 6 (23:53):
Just knowing that there's just that other person that cares
and loves me out.
Speaker 1 (23:57):
There, it feels great and they've done so much for
me and I can only be appreciative every single day
for just having.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Them in my life.
Speaker 6 (24:07):
I think it's been the best decision because I gained
a sun and he's the best sun ever.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
If I was down and out, he'd be there.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
Learn about adopting a team from foster Care. You can't
imagine the reward. Visit adopt us Kids dot org to
learn more. A message brought to you by adopt Us Kids,
the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the
AD Council.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
I'm a pretty great multitasker. I can wash dishes and
do laundry. I can roller skate while walking my dogs.
I can even order lunch while doing my homework. But
I can't use my phone while driving. A distracted driver
is one of the leading causes of death in the
United States. So when it comes to driving, police, don't
be a multitasker.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Don't drive distracted.
Speaker 6 (24:52):
A message brought to you by the National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration, Project yellow Light, and the AD Council.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Mom's early Alzheimer's psagnosis was hard to take, and when
I left the oven on, we decided to gather that
it was time to see a doctor and make a plan.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
Early detection gave us more time to seek out information
and support as a family.
Speaker 7 (25:17):
If you or your family or noticing changes, it could
be Alzheimer's talk about seeing a doctor together. For more information,
visit alz dot org. Slash Time to talk a message
from the Alzheimer's Association and the AD Council.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
You wanted to be cool, which led you to smoking,
which led to a pack a day. Then you met
that special someone, which led to starting a life with them,
which led to wanting to live longer, which led to quitting.
Then you heard you may be at risk for lung cancer,
which led you to getting a low dose CT scan.
(25:50):
If you smoked, get scanned, talk to your doctor and
learn more at Saved Bythscan dot org. Brought to you
by the American Lung Association and the AD Council.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
Don't act like that, don't wear that, don't think that.
I've heard everything you tell yourself every time you felt different,
and I want you to know that you can be
vulnerable and powerful, that taking care of your mind is
taking care of everyone you love and who loves you.
(26:22):
Love your mind find mental health resources at Loveyourmind Today
dot org, brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health
Institute in the AD Council
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