“The color run is a 5k that we are planning. While running the 5k, the runners are pelted with colors. It’s corn starch mixed with food coloring, so it’s biodegradable and safe.  We are planning on raising money for the backpack program. It’s the one that gives food to less fortunate kids in the Rolla school district on Fridays for those who don’t have good nourishment for the weekends,” NHS President senior Eliza Burdett said.

The idea was derived from previous color runs and the Indian festival Holi.

“Last year I visited my sister in Utah and they have a big Indian festival there called Holi. It’s like a festival of spring that’s where they have all of the chalk dust or corn starch with water and they just throw it to welcome in spring. I know that they’re some national color runs so I kind of borrowed the idea,” Burdett said.

Getting all of the supplies and everything ready is still in the process. The process is time consuming but is well on its way.

“It’s been a lot of work. We’ve done a few projects in the past, but this one definitely takes the most time. We have reserved Lions Club, that’s where we are starting our race. I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to get color, like if we could order it from somewhere, but a lot of the manufacturers are in India. So I’ve e-mail back and forth with some people living in India to figure out numbers and things like that. We are also asking if we could have corn starch donated, and we still need to go on sponsor runs. It’s just taken a lot of work,” Burdett said.

Goals for the color run are higher than the previous amounts raised by NHS fundraisers.

“With our volleyball tournament, we earned almost $800, so I’d like to earn more than that. $1000 would be awesome, but it’s hard to know how much interest there will be,” Burdett said.

Excitement for the color run is already in the air, and NHS hopes that people will enjoy it as much they are excited for it.

“I’m really excited that people get to see what I got to with Holi. Everyone there with the color was just so happy and so excited. It’s just really fun to wear white and have like rainbow all over you. I hope other people think it’s as fun as I did,” Burdett said.

To participate in the color run you don’t have to run the 5k; you can also help by throwing color at those running.  It’s open to everyone.

“We are going to have NHS workers at the color zones at each kilometer with a different color at each zone. We’ll have our workers and other people if they don’t want to run, like friends or family members. They can also throw color. Really anyone can do it, but it will primarily be NHS members. Anyone can sign up. We want everyone to sign up. It’s for a great cause so we’re going to try to go on sponsor runs in the next couple of weeks and get flyers out around town. Anyone is welcome of any age,” Burdett said.