Members of the 2016 St. Jude Performance Team are pictured with Fitness for a Cure family event emcee Scott Zolak (wearing suit), who used to play for the New England Patriots.
Seventeen years ago, Sherri Sarrouf decided to create an event in the Greater Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts, to raise funds and awareness for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Fitness for a Cure featured a team of fitness professionals and dance performers who energized that first crowd of attendees with upbeat dance and exercise demonstrations.
The event has continued each year since, with Sarrouf serving as the event’s chair. This year’s Fitness for a Cure combined an evening gala with an afternoon family show on March 19, and raised more than $430,000. In its history, Fitness for a Cure has raised more than $3.6 million to support the kids of St. Jude.
More than 600 guests attended the event at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in Lowell, Massachusetts, where former New England Patriot Scott Zolak served as the family show emcee, and Emily Riemer of Channel 5 EyeOpener was the gala emcee.
The St. Jude Performance Team, which performs the dance and fitness demonstrations, is made up of children and adults from Lowell and surrounding communities. In addition to performing at every Fitness for a Cure event, the team has traveled to St. Jude to perform for St. Jude patients and their families.
“Heroes for St. Jude” was the theme of this year’s family show, and guests were encouraged to wear the costume of their favorite superhero to the show.
Sponsors for Fitness for a Cure included Flexecution, Inc.; Con-cept; Cassandra Salon.Shoppe.Spa; Compass Packaging Solutions, Inc; Demoulas Foundation; Feely, McAnespie, Inc; The Howard Family; Madison Security Group, Inc; McDonalds of Amesbury, Andover & Newburyport – the Haley Family and Mary Lietz; The Rahal Family; Scholastic Corporation; and SLS Fitness.