Corbin Rotary Club, Lions Club receive portion of Colonel Sanders Half Marathon proceeds

Each year, local organizations are chosen to benefit from the Annual Colonel

Sanders Half Marathon event in downtown Corbin by receiving a portion of the proceeds. In 2022, the groups receiving the donations are the Corbin Rotary Club and the Corbin Lions Club.

Last week, event organizer Maggy Monhollen was the special guest speaker at the Rotary Club’s weekly meeting at David’s Steakhouse.

After speaking to club members about this year’s Colonel Sanders Half Marathon, she and Corbin Police Chief Rusty Hedrick presented current club president Chase Hail with a $6,000 check, which will be used to support Rotary’s Empty Stocking Fund that provides families in need with gifts each Christmas.

“This was our third year,” Monhollen said of the annual half marathon. “And we always strive to make this an awesome, quality event. We get people who come in from all over the United States to run this race in Corbin.”

“The best part of the half marathon is utilizing it as an opportunity for us to raise money for humanitarian efforts within our community,” Monhollen said near the end of her presentation.

“Our very first year we were able to donate $7,000 to the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter. Our second year we donated $10,000 to the Corbin Backpack program, and this year we decided that it would be best to split our contribution between Rotary’s Empty Stocking Fund and the Lions Club’s Christmas basket program.”

“We are so grateful for the donation to the Empty Stocking Fund this year,” Hail said. “This is one of the largest donations we’ve gotten, and it makes a huge impact on what we can purchase for the kids.”

Monhollen noted that this was by far the worst weather year for the event, which had 154 finishers.

On Monday evening, Monhollen and Hedrick presented the Corbin Lion’s Club with a $6,000 check during their meeting at David’s Steakhouse.

The Corbin Lion’s Club goal this year is to raise $15,000 for the Christmas basket program, which this year involves purchasing gift cards to give to less fortunate families so they can buy food for Christmas dinner.

“We hope that in some small way our contribution will help you all reach your goal,” Monhollen added.

Corbin Lion’s Club President Jim Manning said that the club is confident that it will be able to raise the $15,000 for the gift cards this year so it is going to use the $6,000 donation from the half marathon in order to purchase fruit baskets for the families too.

“This way instead of mailing them something, we can hand them something and talk to them a minute,” Manning added. “We hope they can all be touched by this.”