{"id":224313,"date":"2025-09-13T19:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T19:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/224313\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T19:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T19:25:10","slug":"dreams-come-true-hosted-its-8th-annual-5k-at-unf-for-kids-battling-life-threatening-medical-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/224313\/","title":{"rendered":"Dreams Come True hosted its 8th annual 5K at UNF for kids battling life-threatening medical conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Dreams Come True hosted its 8th annual 5K event Saturday morning at the University of North Florida.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the only locally-based dream-granting organization that has helped over 5,000 kids battling life-threatening medical conditions take trips of a lifetime, meet celebrities and grant their biggest wishes for over 40 years. All of it is funded through donations from the community.<\/p>\n

Batman hugging a kid at the Dreams Come True 5K. (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have puppy dreams, we\u2019ve got Disney dreams, travel dreams, all kinds of things,\u201d Anna Valent, the executive director, said.<\/p>\n

Dreams Come True is all about making heroes. They say not all of them wear capes, but today, the capes were out for everyone to feel like a hero.<\/p>\n

Kennedy certainly was feeling like a hero, who is almost 10 years old. She was diagnosed two years ago with a form of leukemia, but has pushed through and is shooting for the stars. <\/p>\n

Kennedy at the Dreams Come True 5K (Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

She\u2019s even gotten the chance to do a coin toss at a Jaguars game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanna go to Alaska and work with a famous vet Dr. Oakley,\u201d Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

Whether you dream of flying cows or meeting characters from another galaxy. Dreams Come True says go for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so moving to see everyone come out and know how much we\u2019re supported and these dreamers are supported,\u201d Valent said. <\/p>\n

There are still a couple of ways to get involved. You can donate at dreamscometrue.org.<\/p>\n

News4JAX will host a phone bank benefiting Dreams Come True on Monday, Sept. 15, from 4-7 p.m. We will give people the phone number to call when the lines open.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Dreams Come True hosted its 8th annual 5K event Saturday morning at the University of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":224314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,121605,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-224313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-dreams-come-true","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115198631942467813","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}