F. L. Stanton PTA Mom, Homemaker Wins Hunger Walk 5k Race Sunday

Euleen Josiah-Tanner, a southwest Atlanta resident and active  PTA member, won first place, over all, at the annual Hunger Walk and Run at Turner Field Sunday.

Josiah-Tanner finished the 5k (3.1-mile) course in 17:58 minutes, according to the clock timer at the finish line. The Hunger Walk, which attracts 10,000-plus participants every year, includes a 5k race closely followed by a 5k walk on the same route.

Josiah-Tanner said she was honored to win a race that focuses on charities that help hungry residents in metro Atlanta.

"It is the charity organizations that are making it possible for our fellow brothers and sisters to survive, especially in these tough economical times," Josiah-Tanner said after the race Sunday. "If not for charitable organizations many (people) will not survive, especially our children who will grow up to be tomorrow leaders."

The Hunger Walk/Run raises more than $300,000 every year for charities that feed and assist the hungry. The event, sponsored by the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB), began as a grassroots neighborhood walk in 1984 to help raise money for charities across the metro area.

The Hunger Walk is now one of the most popular annual walk/run-based events in the city; in addition to supporting the work of the ACFB, the Hunger Walk/Run raises money for the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, Lutheran Services of Georgia, the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and the Episcopal Charities Foundation.

Josiah-Tanner was sponsored by members of 306 Peyton Rd., one of the largest African-American and Caribbean Episcopal churches in the United States. According to Episcopal Charities, in recent years, St. Paul's has raised more money than any other church in the Atlanta Diocese for Episcopal Charities-- anywhere from $4,000 to more than $10,000, depending on the year, weather and participation.

Josiah-Tanner, a U.S. citizen whose husband is a Chicago, Ill. native, is a well-known distance runner in the metro Atlanta running community as well as in South America and the Caribbean. She was born in the greater Georgetown area of Guyana, South America, and has raced most distances in Guyana as well as in several countries in the Caribbean and several cities in the United States.

In addition to Sunday's win, Josiah-Tanner has placed (overall) in the following races: 1st Place, the 2006 Jamaica Negril Marathon; 2nd Place, the 2007 Jamaica Negril Marathon;  3rd place, the 2007 South American 10k Classic; 1st Place, the 2009 and 2010 South Dekalb Striders 5k For Hope; 1st Place, the 2009 Strong Legs 5k Run;  1st Place, the 2010 Hope Clinic 5k; 1st Place, the 2010 Downtown Dash for Diabetes;  and 1st Place, the 2010 Macon, Ga., Labor Day 10k.

Josiah-Tanner also was the first female Caribbean finisher for the 2010 Run Barbados Powerade Marathon.

According to a Jan. 25 article in The Kaieteur News Josiah-Tanner is eyeing an offering from the Athletic Association of Guyana to return to Georgetown, temporarily, to run with Guyana's elite cross country team. The team competes in events across South America and the Caribbean.

Until a final decision is made about a return to Guyana, Josiah-Tanner remains rooted in the Cascade community and trains weekly with community's, the oldest predominantly black running club in the country. She plans to run the club's 7k Sickle Cell Foundation run at 9 a.m. Sat., April, 9, at Welcome All Park. The club and the foundation also host a 4k walk at the annual event to raise awareness and funds for sickle cell research and Camp New Hope, a camp for youth with sickle cell disease.

For more information the six charities supported by Hunger Walk/Run or for general information about the event, please visit: Hunger Walk FAQs.

For more information about the 7k run and 4k walk for Sickle Cell at Welcome All, please go to: http://sfrpatlanta.org/Site/7k_Race.html.