HOUSTON — Roaring motorcycles mingled with melodic church bells as more than 300 people were riding out of the Villa de Matel convent grounds on Oct. 15, raising funds for nine Catholic school clinics keeping children healthy.
The 18th annual Nun Run took designated drivers and nuns with Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, traveling from Houston’s East End off Lawndale to San Leon on Galveston Bay.
The Blue Knights police-escorted ride ended with a finishing line party on behalf of the CHRISTUS Foundation for HealthCare that gives access to immunizations, medical care and mental health counseling to underserved communities, said clinic director Sister Roseanne Popp, MD.
Sister Francesca Kearns, CCVI, vicar for Religious for the Archdiocese, who rode behind biker Nathan Wedge on his metallic blue hog, said, “The clinics keep students in school by providing treatment for minor aches and illnesses, which also helps parents stay at work.”
One parent’s testimony on the CHRISTUS website stated, “I have such great relief knowing that my children will not suffer because they can go to the school clinic when they are sick, and I don’t have to miss work and income to take them to the doctor.”
Nine clinics, including those in Holy Ghost School in southwest Houston, both Our Lady of Fatima schools in Galena Park and Texas City, and St. Mary of the Purification in Third Ward, are called upon more than 6,000 times a year to care for children at Archdiocesan schools.
Auxiliary Bishop Italo Dell’Oro, CRS, blessed the riders before the trek but also raced with a foot scooter against sponsor Jim “Mattress Mac” McIngvale, ending in a tie across the finish line amid cheers from the crowd.