Last modified: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 12:18 AM EDT MARTIN GAVINKristen Kemp wins this year’s women’s Run for Humanity held March 22 in Attleboro. FLANAGAN: Fighting hunger, step by step, and memories of a city park When Jim Whelan tells you "I wish I could outreach to everyone," he means it. Indeed, when he started organizing an annual road race, it was with the intent of bringing an end to world hunger. Whelan had looked at a Boston walk-a-thon that was raising $3-$4 million and decided "if every town in America did a road race every year, it would wipe out hunger." That was 16 years ago and people are still hungry. In fact, it's gotten worse. "Food prices are up 8 percent this year," says Whelan, who is himself part of the army working two jobs to get by, working as a courier for Sturdy Memorial Hospital and running a cleaning business. But Whelan keeps plugging along, as do the runners in what has become a spring tradition in Attleboro - the annual Run for Humanity staged at LaSalette Shrine. Some 200 runners paid $18 (in advance) or $20 (on race day) to participate in this year's edition on March 22. After expenses - police coverage, insurance, timing equipment rental and race T-shirts among them - some $3,000 to $4,000 was raised in the race. Most went to St. Joseph's Food Kitchen, which hands out free bags of groceries on Friday nights. In answer to a plea made in this space, $500 went to the Attleboro side of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors program started by North Attleboro Selectman John Rhyno and administered by the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Maybe Whelan can't help everyone, but this year's race will put more than a few meals on tables and help keep a roof over more than a few heads. The proceeds could go further with more runners. "Come on out, next year," says Whelan. "It's a great time for a good cause." Worth the effort Chuck Videto of Attleboro sent along the following notes in response to a recent column about Blackinton Park. They're reprinted here as a morale-booster to the local Boy Scouts who are planning a cleanup of the park May 3. The area they'll be working on was a recreational gem for Videto's generation and it could be again for the generations to come: "Seemingly out of the blue, my wife asked me if I'd ever heard of Blackinton Park. I started to tell her how we'd cut through a path near the corner of West and North Main streets that ran behind Knobby Crafters and came out at the foot bridge over the waterfall at the west end of the pond. The shuttle shop had not yet been moved and there was a short wooden walkway between the old wooden building and the pond (it was a good spot to catch crawfish). "I then told her about an old playground slide that stood on the other side and how someone had rigged a long heavy rope to a high branch of an adjacent tree. It was a bit of a challenge to get the end of the rope to the top of the slide, but once you anchored your feet to the knot on the bottom and let go you were in for a really cool ride into what seemed like the stratosphere ... to a 10-year-old. "I'm glad the old park is going to get a second chance and hope there will be a groundswell of interest in using the old rail line as a bike path. What a great resource! Perhaps it could be tied in with the wooded area between Bank and Holden Streets. That area has also been designated for conservation. A bike path connecting both areas would be a great addition to our city." MARK FLANAGAN (mflanagan@thesunchronicle.com) is Opinion Page editor of The Sun Chronicle. He can be reached at 508-236-0335.