With recent suicides of bullied teens making headlines, Montrose resident and mother of three Elena Stremlin Svitavsky hopes the news of those tragedies will help her raise awareness and  money for preventing teen suicide.

After working for more than a year as a freelance grant writer with Second Wind Fund, a Colorado foundation that provides free counseling for teens at risk of suicide, Svitavsky decided to run a half marathon for the cause.

"I think there will always be bullies - I'm not excusing them in any way, but I think it's a reality of life, unfortunately," Svitavsky. "We need resources to help our kids who are being bullied - to show them it's ok to seek help and then to have that help readily available and easy to access."

Today, she flies to Denver for some high altitude training before the race on  Sunday.

A little more than a year ago, she could barely run half a mile; she now regularly takes to the streets in South Orange, Maplewood, Millburn and West Orange to run from four to 12.5 miles. And she has raised $5,323 toward her $5,500 goal. While Second Wind Fund  is currently only in Colorado, founders hope to soon expand to communities throughout the country.

 "I know what a difference it has made, and what a difference it must make in communities throughout the nation."

To support Svitavsky's fundraising efforts, go to http://www.runningguru.com/RunWithMe.asp?mID=elenasvitavsky#

Eat your veggies

There are only three more Wednesdays to buy fresh vegetables from the South Orange Farmer's market. Enjoy it while it lasts! In case you haven't been this year, the market is in the Village metered parking lot across from the train station and is open from 2 to 7 p.m.

Reminder – Don't forget to pick Johnny up from school early

For parents of elementary school children, tomorrow is the first of four 4-hour days set aside for parent-teacher conferences.

Exciting  news for Camp Half Blood fans

"The Lost Hero" by Rick Riordan is now available at Sparkhouse and the Sparkhouse crew is offerering those who purchase the book a chance to have it signed by the illustrator, John Rocco. Rocco will be at Sparkhouse on Nov. 14 for a book signing and demonstration.

In case you missed it...

I'm repeating this item this morning because it didn't get posted until the afternoon and it might come in handy for a lot of families with high school students: The South Orange Public Library will offer a free SAT practice test this Saturday (Oct.16) from 9:15 to 2 p.m. To enroll, go to www.kaptest.com/practicetest.