The Lehighton Education and Athletic Foundation will hold a "Fall Foliage 5K" and a half-mile kids run on Oct. 1.

Proceeds will benefit one of LEAF's many initiatives including student scholarships and innovative grants for teachers."We're hoping for at least 100 people to participate," said Tim Tkach, LEAF secretary and Lehighton's director of curriculum, instruction and grants. "It's homecoming week and just a beautiful time of year. It will also be fall foliage time in Jim Thorpe and we're hoping to build off that as well. We have a lot of good initiatives for which we hope to use the money."In addition to two scholarships awarded to top students each year, Lehighton gave five grants to teachers last year for educational enhancements.Melissa Volcskai, an instructional technology coach, and Angela Harris, K-4 librarian, received $800 to start a "maker space"; Suzanne Cordes, a reading specialist, used a $1,000 grant to bring author Twig George to Franklin Elementary; a K-12 ESL teacher, Lisa Steigerwalt used her $379 for a field trip to the DaVinci Science Center in Allentown; Mark Maholick, middle school teacher and fly-fishing club adviser, received $400 for a fly-fishing program; and Hallie Seiwell, middle school language arts teacher, used $245 for supplies to enhance a board game she uses for her students.Funds from the race may also be used for additional Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics camps run by Penn State Hazleton."We had a robotics camp at Shull-David this past summer and we'd like to expand to three camps in the future," Tkach said.The 5K run will begin near Lehighton's athletic stadium at 9 a.m. with the kids run, free and open for ages 12 and under, to follow at 10 a.m.Advanced registration forms available at the Lehighton administration building or can be printed from www.leaf-foundation.org.Registration can also be done online at

www.pretzelcitysports.com.Entry to the 5K costs $25 if postmarked by Sept. 21 and includes a guaranteed T-shirt. After Sept. 21, the cost jumps to $30 and shirts are available while supplies last. Race day sign-ups cost $40.Awards will be handed out for the following age groups: 14 and under, 15-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 and over.Pretzel City Sports will provide professional timing for the event.Results will be posted one to two days following the race at

www.pretzelcitysports.com.On race day, registration opens at 8:30 a.m.For more information, contact Rebecca Karpowicz at 610-377-4490, ext. 1525, or email at

rkarpowicz@lehighton.org.