CULLMAN, Ala. – The 11th annual Nicholas Fillinger Memorial Run was hosted at St. Bernard Saturday morning and the falling rain didn’t stop a crowd of family, friends and supporters from gathering to support the cause. 138 runners participated in this year’s event and in addition to providing a scholarship to a local student, the funds from this year’s run will also go to support The Link of Cullman County
The Link of Cullman County offers a selection of quality programs and helps to provide housing and shelter, food, help for parents, help for the recently incarcerated, classes for personal enrichment and renewal and case management as a gateway to additional services.
This year’s race was a little different than years past. The Fillinger family is partnering with Cullman Cross Country to help organize the event and Julie Fillinger is excited to have the program more involved.
“It’s a transitional year for us because we’re moving to Trent (Dean) being the actual organizer. This year was very collaborative between the Fillinger family and Cullman Cross Country so that will continue. We’re really excited about that; Trent can bring a lot of fresh energy and as a matter of fact there are quite a few more teenagers that registered this year than we’re ever had,” Fillinger said. “So, the mean age has gone down considerably between previous years and this year. As always, you can look around and see the support. We always have tons of volunteers which we’re so thankful for and now that’s a collaboration between the Fillinger family support and Cullman Cross Country family support, so we’re just really excited to continue that collaboration.”
This year’s Nicholas Fillinger Memorial Scholarship recipient is Cullman senior Wyatt Buchanan and Julie was proud to present this year’s scholarship to a student that the Fillingers believe embodies what the scholarship represents.
“Every year part of what we do as a foundation is we support one senior that’s going off to college and support them with a scholarship. It means a lot to us. We get help from Cullman High School, that’s where Nicholas attended, so we’ve always picked a senior from Cullman High School but it’s not just anybody. They have to meet certain qualifications, so we rely on coaches and teachers and friends and board members to make nominations and tell us why they think they would be deserving. We do look for someone that is a high achiever in academics and athletics but most important to us is their character,” Fillinger said. “This year’s recipient just exemplified those qualities so well. We’ve never received as many nominations as we did for Wyatt Buchanan. So many teachers, his coaches, all of them just couldn’t say enough good about him. His teachers loved him, and his peers respected him but what put him over the edge in our eyes is he looks out for those that need extra help finding their place. He looks out for those who just haven’t quite figured out their place yet and he brings them along. So, in our estimation that really exemplifies what we’re trying to do with the Nicholas Fillinger Memorial Scholarship.”
The Fillingers are excited to begin working even more closely with Cullman’s Cross Country team, but they were even more excited to see a lot of familiar faces come out to support them and their cause Saturday.
“This is our 11th year doing the run and we’re just so excited that you guys still want to come out and support the causes and support us as a family. You’re all our family and I say that from the bottom of my heart. It means so much to us that you all come out,” Julie said. “This year has been extra special. We’ve been collaborating with the Cullman Cross Country team under Trent’s (Dean) leadership which is fabulous. He’s been here in the trenches for quite some time, and he led the team after Nicholas’ death and led those kids and mentored them. He’s been here ever since then, and he’s built a phenomenal program.”
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