Milton man helps Kenyan orphans to honor late wife

By Ralph Ellis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two years ago, David Gruber of Milton traveled 8,000 miles to Kenya to dedicate an orphanage for children with AIDS and HIV.

On Saturday, Gruber will help those kids further through the Run for Rebecca, a 5-K run he organized in Alpharetta named after a girl who has managed to survive the disease.

Some of those children live in Kathi’s House, a residence named after his late wife.

She was a 52-year-old Korean War orphan who died of cancer in June 2007. While grieving, Gruber heard about the Kenyan orphanage project and threw himself into raising money to help it open.

Organizers named the first residence building after Kathi because of her giving spirit. Gruber went to Kenya and on Nov. 11, 2007, cut the ribbon to officially open the simple stone building in the Great Rift Valley.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution told Gruber’s story in December 2007.

The father of two daughters said he sends money to the orphanage, but he has been back to Kenya only one other time.

“It’s either spend the money to travel there or spend the money so the kids can eat and go to school,” the IT executive said. “I don’t know if [the run] will be a big money-maker, but it will be an awareness generator.”

On-site registration begins at 6 a.m. and the run starts at 7 Saturday at Wills Park in Alpharetta. For information, go to partnersforcare.org.