The Run the Race Center on Columbus’ west side launched a gym expansion project on Thursday, July 28 with a groundbreaking ceremony that included a blessing from Bishop Earl Fernandes.
The 4,200-square-foot expansion, funded by the center’s donors and benefactors, is scheduled to begin soon and take about nine months to complete. Hamilton Contractors will oversee the construction, and New Avenue serves as the architects and engineers for the project.
The Run the Race Club began in 2005 in the basement of Columbus Holy Family Church. It is part of the Brian Muha Foundation, which was started in late 1999 in memory of Brian Muha, a Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School graduate who was murdered earlier that year while attending Franciscan University of Steubenville.
As the Run the Race Club grew, several other locations served as its home before a move was made to the former Wayne Avenue Elementary School, located at 880 S. Wayne Ave. near Hilltonia Park. The center opened after a year of renovations and has developed into a spot where children in the neighborhood come to have fun, learn about God and receive much-needed affection and direction.
“They receive food, clothing, tutoring, art, games, sports, education, parties and more – all given by volunteers who love them,” said Rachel Muha, the club founder and director and Brian’s mother.
The center’s gym, particularly popular with boys, is an important space in the building that Muha described as a place “where competition, teamwork, hard work, glory and defeat are experienced and learned from.”
“The gym is also used for back to school, Christmas, birthday, graduations and other types of parties, (and) it is used for theater, where the students learn so many skills,” she said. “That is why we are expanding the gym – just as what we can do for and with the children expands.
“But what we are really doing is trying to create a community based on the beautiful teachings of Jesus Christ.”
She described five aspects that denote a healthy community:
• A strong sense of belonging, a feeling that there is a special connection among all members of the group.
• An agreement on many important beliefs and values; feelings of love and devotion for the community.
• A sense that the community is more important than the individual.
• That the individual member should be willing to sacrifice for the good of the community and that, if need be, the member should be willing to risk his or her life for the good of the community.
• Fun, enjoyment, laughter and celebrations.
“Life is to be enjoyed, and one of the greatest joys is serving others – those we know and love and those we don’t know but love anyway,” Muha said.
Bishop Fernandes thanked Muha for her work before offering a closing prayer.
“She gives a great witness to building up a culture of life showing respect for those in the womb and also young people as they grow, to make every person feel valued, and I hope you all experience that here,” he said.
“They say justice is giving another person his or her due. And if you want peace you have to work for justice. But charity or love is even greater than justice. And that’s what Rachel has tried to do – not only to forgive but to teach us how to love one another.
“Through this center and the expansion of the gym, she gives our young people a sense of hope, hope for a better future, a hope that doesn’t involve violence but instead involves peace.”
The foundation of the physical building is made of materials, but Christian virtues form the cornerstone, the bishop reminded the supporters and benefactors at the groundbreaking.
“St. Paul says, ‘And so these three things remain: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love.’ And that’s what this project represents: building a culture of life and a civilization of love,” Bishop Fernandes said.
“And so, we give thanks (to everyone) who has contributed to this and especially for those who experience this space for whom it is built. Above all, we give thanks to Almighty God for if the Lord does not build the house, in vain do the builders labor.”
To learn more about Run the Race Club, visit www.brianmuhafoundation.org. For more information about endowments to the foundation, go to www.catholic-foundation.org.