SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – On Saturday, April 25, a group called Move for Palestine will be holding a 5k Run/Walk to raise funds for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF). It kicks off a move-a-thon in May which will continue to raise funds for the PCRF and pledge miles on Strava.
Bonnie McKnight, the organizer for the event, said her journey to researching Palestine started through reading the book “The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East” by Sandy Tolan, which touches on the impacts of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. “It really planted the first seed of my understanding around this topic,” she said.
“I think Americans are largely unaware of what’s happening in that part of the world—and were, until the October 7 attacks,” said McKnight. “I was horrified by what happened, but as I started to read and understand what was happening, I felt like it was a disproportionate massacre in response.”
McKnight, who was pregnant with her third child at the time, said she started to feel hopeless and distraught as she continued to see trauma and war enacted on people—especially because she said, she felt like she had no power to do anything about it. She and her friends brainstormed the idea of a walk-a-thon last fall, when she also met the Tahoe For Palestine group, who had created a vigil for Palestinian children at the No Kings protest.
From then, McKnight took the reins to organize the Move for Palestine 5K and the move-a-thon. “This first event is small, but our purpose is to create awareness and space for the conversation in a peaceful way. Ultimately, how do we support the liberation of Palestinians?”
She also emphasized that the group was advocating for Palestinians, not Hamas, and is not against Jewish people or antisemitic. “What we are addressing are the actions of the government of Israel against the people of Palestine. And through this genocide continuing, we have also seen a rise in violence against Jewish people, which is also unacceptable.”
The move-a-thon, which takes place through May, has a goal of moving 32.5 miles—the length and width of the Gaza Strip. “The goal for this is to move that length and width and to understand what it means to be physically displaced. Over 90% of Gazans were displaced eight to 10 times to seek refuge and this is a powerful way to help people empathize with the psychological and physical strain of that.”
McKnight said she was inspired by the fact that the strip is close in size to the Tahoe Basin, and while she encourages people to join and pledge their miles here, they can also share the Strava group with their friends and family outside of the region, which can raise awareness for their goal.
“I wanted to do something with my voice and my privilege,” said McKnight. “I have a healthy family, I live in a beautiful place, I’m free to go where I want—I feel like everyone in the world should have peace and freedom, which is why this matters to me. I hope that events like this will be a seed planted in other people’s minds and hearts.”
The 5K will take place on Saturday, April 25 at 9 a.m. and the move-a-thon will take place throughout May. You can email slt4palestine@gmail.com to register or volunteer, and donate at https://give.pcrf.net/team/815010.
