EXPOSITION PARK : Fun Run Benefits Critically Ill Children

It’s the type of first that activist Danny Bakewell would have preferred not to establish. But two years after losing his 17-year-old daughter to leukemia, Bakewell and the Sabriya Castle Fun Foundation hope their first Fun Run at Exposition Park raised awareness and money to help critically ill children.

The foundation, named for Bakewell’s late daughter Sabriya, was formed in 1992 to cheer up children suffering from leukemia and other life-threatening diseases by providing entertainment centers in hospitals around Los Angeles.

“Part of what I’m interested in doing is something that is of instant gratification for the kids, that will help them ease their suffering the moment that it’s rolled into their hospital room,” Bakewell said.

The fund-raiser Saturday at Exposition Park was to include a three-quarter-mile walk and run through the Rose Garden and was expected to raise about $100,000. Proceeds will be used to build entertainment centers that resemble castles and feature puppets, a television set, a videocassette recorder, a music center, a video game center, and a library of videos, compact discs and games.

The foundation’s 40 castles, which cost about $3,500 each, have been brought to ailing youngsters at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center and Los Angeles Childrens Hospital, among other hospitals around the country. The money raised during the Fun Run will be used to assemble up to 30 new castles, Bakewell said.

Information: (213) 846-3320