Woodbridge family raising $20K for Johns Hopkins, children with medical challenges

Two Woodbridge children and their family are raising funds to help children with medical challenges.

Matt and Sarah Kilareski have set a goal to raise $20,012 this year for Sadie’s Gift, an organization that provides funding to the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, to help fund training and treatment for children with medical challenges.

Since 2010, the Kilareskis have been able to raise $15,458 for Sadie’s Gift.

“My sister has had a lot of medical care there,” said Matt Kilareski, who said he’s like to raise $10,012 of their total goal.

His sister is hoping to raise $10,000 of their total goal.

“I’m turning 10, and it’s Sadie’s Gift’s tenth and last year,” Sarah Kilareski said of her decision to raise $10,000.

The family is raising the funds in preparation for the Baltimore Running Festival on October 15, where they’ll be running on Team Sadie, in support of the organization’s goals.

According to mom Carrie Kilareski, the cause is personal for them in a lot of ways.

“My family’s been running in the Baltimore Running Festival since – well the kids – since 2011, and every year we run for Sadie’s Gift, as a charity that supports Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. And the reason why we go all the way up there is because my daughter has had 13 surgeries…and the reason I think it would be really cool if our community gets behind this, with our kids’ huge goals, is that I’ve been amazed [when] talking to other parents, how many families in Woodbridge that have medically-challenged or medically-complicated children [that] make that long drive to Baltimore for rare conditions. So it’s a great way for our community to show that we care about the families that are struggling with medical needs children in this way,” said Carrie Kilareski.

More on Sarah Kilareski’s story here.