By Ben Cox
The French have always had a way with words. Galant is an Old French word meaning “gallant” or “charming” and add that to the idea of aimlessly roaming from place to place and you get the English word gallivant – meaning to to wander or travel around, typically in a carefree or leisurely manner, often in search of pleasure or entertainment. The Jacksonville Kiwanis take an annual gallivant between Don’s Place and Bahan’s all in the sake of charity. One of the mantras of Kiwanis is that their organization stands for kids. Last week, the Jacksonville Area Food Center, a low-barrier food pantry for the most needy in our community served over 80 individuals who have food insecurity in the Jacksonville community. Many of those 80+ are adults who likely have children at home who aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from. Again, Kiwanis is for kids.
The annual gallivant or more aptly named .5K walk, run, skip, strut, dance, and stroll took off from Bahan’s promptly at 11AM on Saturday, April 5 with a little over three dozen participants braving a dreary, cold, and windy day. Event co-chair Maggie Kittler says the month of April can be a grab bag: “People who didn’t want to come out, didn’t have to do the walk. We had shopping carts at both Bahan’s and Don’s to pick up canned goods. It was a good turn out. We were really excited. We had between 130-140 people preregister. Some people did walk-in service today. It was a pretty good event.” If people were needing some extra motivation, the Jacksonville Drumline gave them an extra pep with a performance prior to the gun. Kittler says this was her first event co-chairing as a new Kiwanian who joined last year. Long-time Kiwanian Marcy Patterson pulled together the rest of the details. Kittler says it was great having her knowledge and attention to detail to pull off the event’s success despite the dreary weather.
The rain held off long enough for the participants to stop for some donuts in front of The Plaza on the Jacksonville Square as well as for a dirty joke or three from a concealed voice behind a black curtain at the under-renovation Jacksonville Opera House building at the southwest corner of the Square. The final stop was in the warmth of Don’s Place where many grabbed a Bloody Mary or beer, told some more jokes, and some received medals for their amazing footwork.
