HELPING OTHERS — Participants and spectators for the Pat Cambell Fighting Cancer 5K Run are invited to bring nonperishable food to fill two Toronto police cruisers during the run, with the food to be given to the families of individuals fighting cancer. With one of the city’s police cruisers are, from left, Patrolman Ryan Franke; Galen and Tambi Wade, the race coordinators; Mayor John Parker; Police Capt. Derrick Piatt; Patrolman Sam Pinkerton; and Robert Sullivan III, director of the Cancer Dietary Initiative, which will distribute the food. The race will begin at 10:30 a.m. March 15. -- Warren Scott

TORONTO — When the Pat Campbell Fighting Cancer 5K Run returns to the Gem City on March 15, it will raise funds for a new cause, and participants and spectators can help to support it.

Proceeds from the race, which will start at 10:30 a.m. for runners and a minute later for walkers, will go to the Cancer Dietary Initiative, a Steubenville-based charity that provides food to the families of local residents battling cancer.

And the run’s organizers are inviting everyone to fill two Toronto police cruisers there with nonperishable food.

Robert Sullivan III, director of the program, said for 13 years, it has been supplying food to cancer patients and their families in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, with about 65 families currently receiving the boost each month.

“We’re honored to be associated with the Pat Campbell Fighting Cancer 5K Run,” said Sullivan.

Held each year on a Saturday close to St. Patrick’s Day, the run is named for William Pat Campbell, a local attorney who battled Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma before succumbing to a heart attack in 2009.

Campbell was born on the holiday and was quite proud of his Irish heritage.

This year, the race’s organizers are encouraging participants to wear kilts as well as green.

In its 15th year, the event has been organized in recent years by members of Crossroads North River Church, and the starting line for the race will be just outside it on North River Avenue.

The race’s course will run from there to Old Route 7 at the city’s south end and back.

The registration fee will be $25 before March 14 and $35 on March 14, when participants may register at the church at 5:30 p.m.

Registration on March 15, the day of the race, will begin at 8 a.m.

The cost for participants 12 and under is $15.

Galen and Tambi Wade, who head the many volunteers involved, expressed thanks to the city and its emergency departments for their support and assistance.