Runners will hit the streets of downtown Geneva to raise funds to help around 200 children receive a better education in Haiti.

The 15^th annual Fun Bun Run 5K for Education, hosted by the nonprofit Hope for Haitians, takes place 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 9, outside the Kane County Government Center, 719 S, Batavia Ave,, Geneva.

You can register and donate to the charity by visiting, FunBunRun.org. All winners in each age category will receive a medal handmade in Haiti.

The organization has been building homes and providing educational opportunities for people in Haiti since 2001. Since its founding, Hope for Haitians has helped build 860 homes, housing 4,935 people. It has also provided around 1,910 students with educational supplies and opportunities for an entire year and provided around 270,000 people with fresh water.

The group also provides food and medical services to villages in rural Haiti.

“We all know the key is education,” Karen Dix of Hope for Haitians said. “We have built schools and provide scholarships for families. All the money raised at the race goes directly to education. Sponsors take care of the expenses.”

The family-fun event features both on-site and virtual races for participants from across the country.

With legacies of colonialism and slavery, civil violence and hurricane and earthquake destruction, Haiti has remained the poorest country in the western hemisphere.

Close to two-thirds of Haiti’s 12 million population lives below the poverty line, including around 25% in extreme poverty, according to the International Monetary Fund.

“For children in rural Haiti born into families living in desperate poverty, education may be their best hope for a future,” the organization said on its website. “Funds raised pay for school fees, books, materials and others essentials needed to learn.”

The charity also provides clothing, transportation, meal programs and tuition aid to Haitian students. The organization also provides assistance to vocational students to study the trades.

The efforts “will brighten not only their futures but the future of the villages where they live,” the organization said.

The literacy rate in Haiti for those 15-years-and-older is 61%; this is compounded by the fact that one-in-four children are not currently in a school, according to Hope for Haitians.

“While helping to meet the basic needs of Haitians for housing and clean water, (we) also create sustainable solutions for continued self-sufficiency and provide education programs to prepare the next generation,” the group said.

You can learn more at hopeforhaitians.org.