Murphy I’m going to try to start in the back and work my way up to the front.”
This was 7-year old Harper Ziemann’s strategy for egg collection during the United Way Easter Egg Hunt & Rubber Ducky Race at Konehete Veterans Park on Saturday. The event was a rain date, which the organizers expanded the fun by inviting food trucks and local businesses.
Harper’s mom, Megan Ziemann, said she brings her kids every year.
“It’s good fun,” she said, adding “and I want to sup- port the United Way.”
Local volunteers filled more than 10,000 eggs full of candy to help the cause and provided free Easter baskets for children. United Way Murphy Chapter President Chris Morhardt welcomed the crowd and thanked the volunteers for their efforts.
The egg hunt, which kicked off at 11 a.m. under an accommodating but chilly sky, brought out some play- ful competitiveness among the children. Jaxon Brooks, 11, said his strategy matched Harper’s, but he planned to collect more eggs than she did.”
Paisley Maclaren, 10, mapped out her course standing at the gate wait- ing for entrance. “I’m going to keep my head down and don’t stop moving,” she said.
Four-year-old Asiyah Francis was more circum- spect. “I came for the candy. My favorite is pink,” she said. “But I like all the rainbow colors.”
United Way board mem- ber Christie Standish said, “We waited a long time, and we want the kids to have fun and fellowship.”
The Rubber Ducky Race, which is the main fund- raiser of the event, started at noon. The money raised will help support the United Way’s efforts throughout the community, including partnerships with more than a dozen local agencies with a variety of focuses. The organization helps Reach of Cherokee County, Chero- kee and Clay County food banks, the Dolly Partner Imagination Library and Cherokee County 4-H Club.
The local chapter’s founder was Joseph El-Khouri of Andrews, and his daughter, Barbara El-Khouri, attended the event.
“My father was from Lebanon and wanted to do everything he could to give back to a community that gave so much to him as an immigrant,” she said.