Wednesday, Oct. 21, without pomp or circumstance, both a ceremonial and an actual check for $5,000 from Front Runners and Walkers San Diego were presented to Stephen Whitburn , the executive director of San Diego Pride, a former Red Cross executive, a local San Diego newscaster and a dead ringer for the love child of Peter Gallagher and Billy Bob Thornton. Enrique Fonseca and Dave Hallen of Front Runners and Walkers San Diego, a social and fitness club whose members are primarily from the LGBTQ community but whose membership is open to all, did the presenting.
The event took place inside the Pride offices on 3620 30th Ave. shortly before their board meeting. A light buffet of subs with a surprisingly robust number of sauces was provided. The meeting began with us being asked to introduce ourselves and record how we were feeling. And while this participant’s joke about my teeth hurting went over about as well as a monkey finding itself on a rowboat with a hungry tiger, one thing was clear. This was much less about staging an event highlighting philanthropic largesse and more about comradery between two unsullied San Diego organizations committed to demonstrating the virtues of giving back to the community.
I spoke with Enrique Fonseca – Ricky to people who know him – and who serves as the race director for the Front Runners and Walkers. He explained that “The Pride Run was established in 1981. It started as a fun run but morphed into the 5K Pride Run with about 800 participants this past year.” Ricky adds, “The donations [from us] are based on what we bring in in revenue from donations from the race after we cover our costs. (There is a mandatory $45 registration fee. For further information on next year’s 5K Pride Run, visit sdpride.org/pride5k/.) The name of their organization, incidentally, comes from the title of Patricia Neil Warren’s groundbreaking novel The Front Runner, widely considered to be the first novel about gay love widely accepted by mainstream audiences.
In November Front Runners and Walkers San Diego will be presenting another check only this time to the San Diego LGBT Community Center for their work with the Sunburst Youth Housing Project.
