Tina’s 5K This Saturday in Memory of ‘Kind-Spirited’ P’ville Teen
By Andrew Vitelli
For the sixth year, runners and walkers will take to the streets of Pleasantville for Tina’s 5K Run/Walk this Saturday.
The event, which raises money for The Tina Shaina Gambino Memorial Foundation, was first conceived by Michael Bloom, now a Pleasantville High School senior, in 2011.
“It really has been embraced by Pleasantville and its neighboring communities,” said Janice Gambino, Tina’s mother. “It’s something that is run and organized by people from within the community and gives back to people in the community. It can touch just about everyone.”
Tina Gambino, who died in November 2004 at 17 years old, was Bloom’s first babysitter. As his community service project for his Bar Mitzvah, Bloom decided he wanted to find a way to honor Gambino’s memory. His family and the Gambinos have remained close.
“Tina had always been just unbelievably kind-spirited,” recalled Bloom, who was just five years old when Gambino died. “I can always just recall her presence and how emotionally attached I was to her.”
The foundation runs several programs, including a nearly $7,000 college scholarship for Pleasantville students who work to the best of their abilities, are involved in community service and have a positive, outgoing attitude.
“I think that’s a lot of what people remember,” Janice Gambino said. “Whether you were the adult and she would say hello to you, open a door or pick something up, or whether you were a freshman when she was a senior and she would say hello to you and make you feel welcome. She was pretty special in that regard.”
Along with the 5K, the foundation teams with Pleasantville High School for the Drive Smart program, which teaches safety to new drivers and parents. The program also promotes organ donation. Tina was an organ donor, which helped to save four people after she died.
In addition, the foundation brings food to Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital during Thanksgiving for families at the hospital, as Tina had been at Maria Fareri during Thanksgiving in 2004.
“We knew first-hand about not wanting to leave your child’s side,” Janice Gambino said. “The generosity of the community was such that we had more than enough [food] to share with so many who were there, so the following year we opted to do the same.”
The 5K begins at Pleasantville High School at 9 a.m. on Saturday; registration is from 7:30 to 8:45 a.m. at the school. Several Pleasantville businesses are contributing food and drinks for the run. About 50 people volunteer to help organize the event.
Bloom, who will graduate from Pleasantville next June, said although he may be unable to be as involved in the future, he and Janice Gambino said Tina’s 5K will continue for years to come.
“Every year it’s just amazing, at 8 or 9 in the morning, to walk up the stairs of the high school and see how many people really do care about what we’re doing,” Bloom said. “To see it come to fruition the way it does never ceases to shock me and keep me in awe each year.”
The entry fee is $25 for adults and $15 for students 18 and under. For more information, visit www.tinagambino.org.
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