Spartans who ran from Iowa now headed to South America

By William Jones

An Oak Lawn Community High School graduate and eight of his peers will travel to Bolivia next week to help refurbish a hospital.

Matt Deplaris, 18, of Oak Lawn, will be working at Bethel Hospital, a Level 2 medical center in Amachuma, roughly 100 miles from the Bolivian capital of La Paz.

Deplaris and 35 other area students and alumni from Oak Lawn, Evergreen Park and Reavis high schools completed the fourth annual “Ken-Ya Run Across Illinois” last Saturday, the last leg of fundraising efforts putting the Cross Countries group just over its $40,000 goal before they leave for the trip next week.

The students made a 166-mile trek from East Clinton, Iowa, to the high school, running on back roads and through cornfields during the 24-hour relay in which each runner put in approximately seven miles, Deplaris said. The event raised nearly $4,500, adding to the money brought in by candlelight bowls and other fundraisers held over the last two and a half years, he added.

“We’re very thankful of the community’s support,” Deplaris said.

Cross Countries was formed by Oak Lawn High School boys cross country coach Chris Repa in 2004, a year after he was hired by the school. In 2001, Repa went to Africa on a service trip and said he got to talking to his runners about such trips. The group was formed and began organizing a trip to Kenya, merging the interests of running and service.

The group raised $46,000 in roughly 15 months and made the trip in summer 2006, Repa said.

“They kind of set the bar there,” he added.

The first group that made the trip was mostly seniors, but freshman caught onto the idea, and started putting together what would become this year’s trip to Bolivia, Repa said. The successful fundraising efforts mean the airfare and food will be paid for every student, leaving only auxiliary costs, he added.

Repa is set to leave for Bolivia with nine students June 16 and return July 9. The students will bring supplies and help paint and install drywall, plumbing, electrical wiring and outlets. The students will not actually be doing the plumping or electrical work themselves, but providing “the manpower of nine teenagers,” Repa said.

“A lot of manual labor,” he added.

They will also bring gifts to their host families and have an opportunity to learn about the poverty-stricken Bolivian culture first-hand.

“Bolivia has one of the biggest poverty rates of all the countries in South America,” Deplaris said of the students’ reasoning for picking the location.

The students’ daily schedule will involve waking up and starting breakfast and community service work at 7 a.m. every day, but Deplaris said he is looking forward to the trip.

“For them, it’s a service component and cultural component,” Repa said.

While the trip itself will provide the students with incredible insight, they have likely learned just as much, if not more, in the journey leading up to it, Repa said. The students have participated in public speaking, planning and fundraising.

“The kids are learning life skills leading up to the trip,” he said.

This is part of the June 11, 2009 online edition of The Reporter.

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