When Jackson Canellis laces up his running shoes, they get just over $759 per mile.
Canellis, 17, of Orland Park, raised a whopping $9,110 last weekend in the first-ever Run for a Cause: Crosstown Classic Fundraiser for BEDS Plus.
The run, much of it along Lake Michigan, was 12 miles from Wrigley Field to Guaranteed Rate Field.
“It feels great. It’s way bigger than I thought it would be. … Once things got rolling, it really surprised me,” Canellis said of the $9,110 in donations.
BEDS Plus helps people by finding housing and serving more than 1,200 meals weekly. In fiscal year 2023, BEDS Plus assisted more than 2,500 individuals in 1,834 households, including 853 children.
Canellis thanked local newspapers and TV stations for drawing attention to the run, which was his idea.
He chose the ballpark theme because the Cubs were playing the Sox in the Crosstown Classic Aug. 9 and 10.
And, he wanted to raise money for a charity he’s volunteered for since the sixth grade, often preparing meals at the BEDS Plus location in Summit.
A junior at Sandburg High School, Canellis had quite the story for classmates last week on the first day of school Thursday.
He and seven of his Sandburg cross-country and track teammates ran the route, arriving before the first pitch of the Aug. 10 game.
Donations were made at the BEDS Plus site by fans of each team. They had to declare which team they backed when making the donation.
White Sox fans donated $5,783. Cubs fans donated $3,327.
Being a Sox fan, he was relieved because he had promised to wear the jersey of whichever team gathered the most donations. Cubbie blue is not his color.
“It looked like the Cubs were going to win, but somebody anonymously donated $2,000 (on the Sox side),” he said. “That was pretty cool.”
It was windy Saturday but that didn’t bother the runners, he said.
What did bother them was the huge crowd along Chicago’s lakefront. They had forgotten about a certain huge event.
“The (Chicago) Air & Water Show definitely made it harder to run because there were so many people,” Canellis said.
“We didn’t really think about it until the day before. But it actually wasn’t that bad. My dad was on a bike, leading us for a bit. A lot of people were walking on the path,” he said.
The most crowded stretch was between the third and sixth mile markers, he said. The last six miles were clear sailing. It took 85 minutes to run 12 miles, he said.
Canellis was impressed the Cubs had “Good Luck On Your Run, Jackson!” on the iconic Wrigley Field marquee. Plenty of photos were taken.
“That was pretty cool,” he said.
The group did not attend the ballgame, won 3-1 by the Cubs, but did tailgate in a parking lot outside The Rate.
Canellis laughed when asked about the reaction from baseball fans when the runners arrived at the 2005 World Series monument.
“We came in huffing and puffing. They were ‘What’s going on’?” he said.
Joining Canellis on the run were Sandburg teammates Jake Crotty, Brayden Gaffud, Jack Easterhouse, Mateo Ramiro, Luke Atzman, Mathew Miller and Myles Jacquez.
Canellis would love to make the run an annual event, perhaps having other runners join in after donating money to BEDS Plus and getting a T-shirt in return.
Terri Rivera, chief advancement officer for BEDS Plus, likes the idea: “I would support that. We’ll see what the future holds.”
Rivera, 53, of Brookfield, spoke highly of Canellis and this year’s run.
“Oh, my gosh. He’s an amazing kid and an amazing volunteer for us. Really cool idea,” Rivera said. “I’m a runner and I’m jealous I never came up with that idea.”
Noting Canellis “nearly doubled his goal,” Rivera said “we’re asking people to help us get to $10,000.”
Donations still are open at https://beds-plus.org/crosstown-classic-run-for-a-cause/.
The donations “will go a long way in helping us provide meals and services to the people who need it,” Rivera said.
The Cubs, she added, were leading “until that last-minute donation” of $2,000 was made.
“We’re happy he got to wear the jersey he really wanted to,” she added with a laugh.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
