Kids Fun Day in Al Quaal

If you’re looking for some fun in the sun with kids and want to help a local family in need, Al Quaal is the place to be this weekend.

This Saturday morning, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a group of local women will be raising money for a family in need by hosting the Running for a Reason Kids Day for Flynn Valela.

Flynn was born at just 28 weeks and weighed only 2 pounds. It was only recently that he was able to go home after spending the first 12 weeks in the NICU at Marquette General.

“When we heard about Flynn being born early we came up with this idea to try to make a kids event out of it to kick off summer vacation and bring the community together. It’s hard to constantly ask people for money, so we try to find things that people are willing to donate to that they can kind of take something away from at the same time,” said Carrie Harvala, a founding member of the Running for a Reason program.

Wristbands for unlimited games, food, a bounce house, twister dots, face painting, story time and a dunk tank will be sold for $10 to help benefit Flynn and his family. The Ishpeming Fire Department will also be hand to show kids around their truck and to sell cudighis for the cause.

The Valelas have been overwhelmed by the outpour of donations and support from the community.

“Definitely, yeah. They’re very much appreciative. They’re very grateful. I think they’re surprised by the response that we’ve had so far. We’re planning for 500 people. We’ve had a huge response of people who say they’ll be coming out and the weather should be nice, hopefully,” laughed Harvala, a friend of Flynn’s mother April.

There will also be a number of gift up for auction that were donated by families in the community to help contribute to the fundraising effort. If you can’t be there in person you can still lend your support by buying a Running for a Reason t-shirt through their Facebook page. Five dollars from every shirt will go straight to the Valela family. Those same shirts will be worn by the nine women who put the event together to honor Flynn during a half marathon in Chicago later this month.