Walk A Mile in Her Shoes set for April 27 at Deerfield-Windsor School

ALBANY — The annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes benefit for the Lily Pad Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Center is set for April 27 at the track of the Deerfield-Windsor School upper campus.

The event will run from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Walk A Mile In Her Shoes is the Lily Pad’s official march against sexual violence. Both men and women will walk in high heels, while younger participants take part in a Superhero Fun Run at 10:45 a.m. Kids will run with their favorite superheroes to see who is fastest.

“This is our 10th year,” Mary Martinez, Lily Pad’s executive director and forensic interviewer, said. “We will provide the red high heels for the men, and ladies will bring their favorite pumps and walk with them.”

The walk will officially kick off at 11 a.m.

Included in registration, walkers will receive this year’s Walk A Mile T-shirt and a “swag bag” of goodies, while the superheroes will receive their own cape. Walkers get a sponsorship tracker to collect sponsors, and they are asked turn the tracker in at the event with the money collected.

Each walker is challenged to raise $500 this year, but that is not the minimum amount required to participate.

“We don’t normally have a goal,” Martinez said. “We try to encourage everyone to raise $500. If you raise $50, I think that is a success, too.”

Awards will be given for best legs, the most money raised, the best dressed and the fastest. Superhero Fun Run participants will receive awards for fastest boy and fastest girl.

“It is just a very fun event that you can bring the whole family to,” Martinez said.

The registration fee for all children is $10. Youngsters do not need to collect sponsorships for the Superhero Fun Run.

An after-party is planned at Austin’s Firegrill and Oyster Bar, at 2817 Old Dawson Road, following the event. The party will include a karaoke battle at 6 p.m. on the restaurant’s patio. The party will be open for lunch and dinner, and 10 percent of the restaurant’s proceeds will go to the Lily Pad, Martinez said.

The Lily Pad is a nonprofit center for victims of abuse.

“It seems like every year we are getting more and more people to participate,” Martinez said. “It started off as just men, but women wanted to get in — and then the children were brought in.

“It is important to show these victims that we will not stand for sexual violence — that there are men, women and children in their corner.”

To put the need for funds into perspective, information provided by the Lily Pad notes that $1,000 purchases 40 rape kits while $2,500 provides five sexual assault examinations. The organization said it provides an average of 150 sexual assault exams and 300 forensic interviews to child victims each year.

Corporate sponsorship levels range from $500 to $2,500. For more information on the fundraiser, visit lilypadcenter.com or find “Walk A Mile In Her Shoes — A benefit for Lily Pad” on Facebook.

Registration forms are available online and can be faxed to the Lily Pad at (229) 435-0756 or emailed to [email protected]. Deerfield-Windsor is located at 2500 Nottingham Way.

The deadline to register and guarantee a T-shirt is April 12. For further information, call (229) 435-0074.