Running for life

A state pro-life running/walking chapter based in Killdeer is thriving nearly three years after its inception.
 
LIFE Runners’ only branch in North Dakota boasts more than 60 members statewide, most generated from western North Dakota, said co-founder Mary Wheeling.
 
Nearly 14,000 teammates participate in the cause internationally, including 39 nations and 2,577 cities, according to the LIFE Runners website (liferunners.org). Not all supporters are required to run, but they are obliged to be sporting jerseys and shirts with the motto, “Remember the Unborn,” on their backs during group activities.
 
Wheeling, 64, started the Killdeer branch of LIFE Runners about two and a half years ago after listening to a program on the Real Presence Radio network. “Pat Castle, who started the program, was being interviewed,” she recalled.
 
Wheeling, had been an avid runner for 40 years before an injury and surgery prevented her from continuing that life-long passion.
 
LIFE Runners offered her the next best thing as it posed the opportunity to be physically active and raise awareness for pro-life causes. “It was exactly what I wanted to do,” she said. “We wear jerseys and T-shirts that say: ‘Remember the Unborn’ on the back,” she noted. “We try to do some activity at least once a month.”
 
She pointed out that running isn’t necessarily a prerequisite to being a member, not wanting to exclude anyone who says they can’t run.
 
“It was started by a runner,” Wheeling said. “We mostly do walks. It’s for members ages 1-99…As long as they wear our jerseys,” she said. “We walk about town, wearing our jerseys and then might have pizza or go to a movie.”
 
The group has also done a BBQ in the park and a color fun run. Not all participants are members and everyone’s welcome. Wheeling said the formation of the LIFE runners chapter was a natural fit for people at her church as many are tightly connected as a church family and community, and conscious of pro-life causes.
 
Most notably, at press time, at least five youth group members of the chapter and church were scheduled to represent LIFE Runners at the March for Life event on Jan. 24 in Washington D.C.
 
The Killdeer Chapter of LIFE Runners has proved a strong ally of the Badlands Right to Life group, based in Dickinson. The group, donning their jerseys with their message, held up candles with the Right to Life group during the Badlands Right to Life Vigil at St. Patrick’s Church there. Chapter members can often be found assisting the Badlands Right to Life program in rummage sales and other fundraisers to raise awareness for pro-life-related causes, said Wheeling.
 
She and other members of the Killdeer LIFE Runners chapter previously joined and represented the national A-Cross America event. There as a participant and sponsor at the event, Wheeling prayed in front of North Dakota’s only abortion clinic in Fargo.
 
The 5,400-mile A-Cross pro-life event involves runners or walkers creating a relay cross moving north to south and east to west which meets in Kansas.
 
“Our goal is to remember the unborn,” Wheeling said. “We’ve done some good things. We run. We walk. We pray to end abortion. This brings out awareness.”
 
The group always starts any activity by reciting their creed. Often leading the LIFE Runners in the creed is Wheeling’s brother, Deacon Dan Tuhy of St. Joseph’s Parish in Killdeer.
 
The creed emphasizes the dignity of all human life. It reminds participants, that as they run and walk, it is a prayer to defend children in the womb, for endurance in their mission, awareness of the value of human life, to discourage parents from ending the life and to end abortion. 
 
Tuhy is quick to credit his sister for the chapter’s startup and having it thrive early and insists his role is mostly to support her.
 
“She came to a youth group meeting at the church and asked if the youth group members were interested,” he recalled. “She asked if I would be the chaplain for the group.”
 
Tuhy added, “It’s a really good group to be identified with. It creates awareness about pro-life causes.”
 
He likes engaging the teens in the group activities and events like the March in D.C. Tuhy likens it to a pilgrimage for the pro-life movement.
 
“The sooner you get younger kids involved with pro-life causes, the better,” he said. Tuhy added it increases the youth’s chances to remain involved with the cause.
 
Wheeling’s niece Kelly Fritel has also been with the chapter since its startup. She oversees the Facebook page for the program. “It’s been very positive. I have four kids and they have been to almost everything we do with the group. It helps them understand what’s happening and why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
 
Fritel said she frequently wears her LIFE Runners shirt in public and has received nothing but positive comments.
 
It’s become a family affair for Wheeling and her husband, Bob, who are the parents to grown children, Mandy and Jacob, and grandparents to two. Her one regret is that the Killdeer LIFE Runners remains the lone chapter in the state, but she is working to change that by getting the word out.
 
For more information about the program, visit Liferunners.org.