When Harker parent Geetha Madhavan and her daughter Maya, a rising senior, learned about the memorial fund created in honor of beloved longtime upper school employee Sandy Padgett, they came up with an idea to help promote the cause.
To raise money for the Sandy Padgett Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund the duo motivated Harker to take part in a “walkathon” on behalf of the fund. Called Sevathon, the walkathon is sponsored by the India Community Center, a nonprofit, locally based organization, and is slated to occur on the morning of Sun., July 14 at the Baylands Park in Sunnyvale.
One of the largest social and service platforms of its kind, Sevathon unites walkers, runners, nonprofits, sponsors, family members and friends in support of various local and global causes. Nonprofit agencies like Harker sign up to partner with Sevathon, and in turn participants register to walk or run for a desired cause, separately pledging donations to their choice of more than 50 locally and globally based nonprofits.
“When we found out about the walkathon for charity, Maya suggested that we should run for a cause in honor of Ms. Padgett, who was her counselor. We then thought that other Harker kids might want to join in, so we checked with the advancement department and together formed the idea of running for the scholarship fund,” said Madhavan, who is also the parent of Meera ’13. “It would be nice to have Harker students and staff sign up for the run,” she added.
According to Sevathon organizers, the word seva means “a service which is given without consideration of anything in return” and is regarded as “the nature of goodness.” The walkathon nurtures a spirit of giving by empowering individuals of diverse backgrounds to unite. It also enables each nonprofit partner organization to deliver its own message and further its unique cause.
A fun community happening promoting fitness and healthy living, Sevathon offers participants the choice of signing up for a 5k, 10k (both $25 with pre-registration) or half-marathon ($40 with pre-registration). Pre-registration closes the day before the event, after which prices go up. To register for Sevathon and support the Sandy Padgett Memorial Fund, go to www.indiacc.org/Sevathon and select Harker as the nonprofit of choice.
For those unable to participate in the event but who still want to make a donation to the Padgett fund, checks may be mailed directly to Harker Advancement, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129. Please note “Sandy Padgett Memorial Fund” in the check’s memo line.
An original member of the upper school faculty and founding director of Harker’s college counseling program, Padgett passed away on April 22. Padgett’s family had previously requested that in lieu of flowers, all donations be sent to The Sandy Padgett Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund, established in her memory. After her memorial service, checks were mailed to the fund and continue to be collected via Harker’s advancement department.