Teen organizes race to helps kids with cleft palates

For Ryan Ernstes, more miles equal more smiles.

The 16-year-old Cobb County track athlete is the inspiration and organizer of a run that has raised enough money in three years to pay for surgeries for 64 children with cleft palates.

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HYOSUB SHIN / hshin@ajc.com

‘I was born with a cleft lip, and I was always lucky and had very good doctors, thanks to my parents,’ Ryan said.

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Today with the fourth annual Hot Lips Hustle 5K, she wants to boost that to more than 100 kids helped around the world.

“I was born with a cleft lip, and I was always lucky and had very good doctors, thanks to my parents,” Ryan said.

But she knew there were many children in other parts of the world who would never get the kind of help she had received.

“At the time she was about 12, we were talking about it and how sad it was for kids born who can’t afford surgeries,” her mother, Robin Ernstes, said. “And Ryan wanted to help them.”

Robin, her husband, Joe, daughter Casey, 18, and Ryan are all runners who participate together in races.

One day in February four years ago, Robin and Ryan were out for a jog when the idea for the 5K came up, Robin said.

They knew that many 5K or 10K races raise money for charities or causes. They figured they could start one for children with cleft palates, she said.

They attended several races in the next months, asked the organizers questions and watched more carefully than in the past about the work that goes into pulling one off.

“We had our first race that next September,” Ryan said.

They got help from their church, Holy Trinity Lutheran in Marietta, where the race starts. They recruited friends, family and track teammates to help.

Ryan’s track coach, Tom Auger of the Walker School, said he has made the 5K one of the team’s training runs.

“[Ryan] never asked. But when she was a freshman, we started to go as a team and support her,” he said.

The Ernstes family landed a few sponsors to provide food and fun for the participants.

Ryan decided to make it a dog-friendly run.

“She is a dog lover,” Robin Ernstes said. “All dogs are $5, and each dog gets a medal.”

Ryan researched organizations that perform cleft palate surgery and chose the Smile Train as the recipient of the funds they raise. The New York nonprofit trains doctors all over the world and performs surgeries for $250 per child.

So far, the run has raised more than $16,000.

They had about 300 runners last year, pounding out the 3.1-mile race.

“It’s a really great feeling knowing that we pulled it off nicely and that we were able to raise money,” Ryan said.

For more information: www.hotlipshustle5K.com.