Students, community eat doughnuts for a cause

Despite rain and the early hour, 91 ECU students and members of the community gathered at the bottom of College Hill on Saturday to participate in Greenville's first Krispy Kreme Challenge.

The challenge was organized by Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International and ECU's co-ed fraternity Phi Sigma Pi to raise awareness and funds for juvenile diabetes --a disease that affects over 15,000 children per year.

The challenge began at 8 a.m. at the bottom of the Hill, where runners ran up Tenth Street, through the Rock Creek neighborhood and up Charles Street to reach their first destination: Krispy Kreme restaurant on Charles. Runners had to eat a dozen doughnuts -totaling a whopping 2,400 calories -- as fast as they could before running back to the bottom of the Hill -- a total of three miles.

"We thought it would be fun because it is such a big hit in Raleigh," said organizer and JDRF volunteer Annette Peery. "We decided to raise awareness about juvenile diabetes [instead of the North Carolina Children's Hospital like N.C. State], which seems like an oxymoron because people are eating donuts for diabetes, [but] people are running so people don't have to take insulin shots before they eat a doughnut."

Phi Sigma Pi fraternity has wanted to bring the Krispy Kreme Challenge to ECU students for some time now, according to the fraternity's president, Stephanie Wood.

"I run into so many people in Wright Place or wherever and they're like, 'Hey, I have diabetes,' so I think it touches everyone," said Wood. "It's something fun you can come out and do with your friends and you're helping the community, too."

Diabetes research is something that is dear to the fraternity - their historian, Savannah Locklear, a dance major at ECU, suffers from Type I diabetes. She was overwhelmed by the support of the students and community on Saturday.

"It's a day-to-day thing for me," said Locklear, who only ate three doughnuts at the challenge per the watchful eye of her fraternity members. "There are good days and bad days, but you have to have patience and control it. I didn't realize that so many people supported [diabetes research]. It's an everyday thing for me so it's a really good feeling, it really is."

Out of the 91 runners, 78 completed the 3-mile race from the bottom of the Hill to Krispy Kreme and back, and 30 ate the entire box of a dozen donuts. ECU student Gerard Camargo was one of the 30 who ate an entire dozen and ended up winning the Krispy Kreme Challenge. He says that he's not sick of Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and will probably eat them again, "sometime this week."

"I love running, I love doughnuts and it's for a good cause," Camargo said after winning.

Owner of Krispy Kreme restaurants Amanda Tilley was also on hand Saturday to witness the festivities, as well as Greenville's Krispy Kreme general manager W.F. Parrish, who donated 125 boxes of doughnuts for the event as well as $1 for every dozen doughnuts purchased at the restaurant on Saturday.

"We thought it was for a good cause even though we don't encourage those who have diabetes to eat a dozen doughnuts," said Parrish.

"We are just glad to support the event and the community," Tilley added.

The Kripsy Kreme Challenge raised almost $3,000 from registration and donations, and will become an annual event in Greenville.

This writer can be contacted at editor@theeastcarolinian.com.