The President of Clackamas Community College set an audacious goal for himself this summer: To run 1,500 miles, visiting all 17 of Oregon’s community colleges, to raise money for students’ basic needs.
President Tim Cook cooked up the idea after noticing many students struggling at his school. He said he'd seen "students that were living in their cars, students that didn’t have enough to eat, students who making choices about whether to buy textbooks or whether to pay electrical bills.”
He wanted to do something to help.
On Friday, his lengthy run brought him to Lane Community College, the eighth location on his "Running for Oregon Community College Students" campaign. Having started in eastern Oregon, with vast distances between stops, he’d already run well over half the mileage by the time he arrived in Eugene.
He told KLCC it's been gratifying to feel the support of Oregonians across the state, but that this is a one-time event. He’d also like to see a more permanent fix.
“Long term," he said, "I’m really hoping that there is some sort of stable funding, some solution through the legislature. It’s basic needs. How do you learn if you can’t eat or you don’t know where you’re going to stay?”
Cook said community colleges don’t have big sports teams or marketing budgets, but they educate about 200,000 people each year.
Although Cook arrived at Lane Community College in time for lunch, he was going to head back out and run a few more miles toward Linn-Benton Community College before an afternoon event at LCC.
He said he’s run more than 50 marathons in his life, but that as of Friday, he’d run something like 34 or 35 marathons in a row. “It’s a little bit crazy,” he admitted.
His last stop will be at Columbia Gorge Community College in early August.
