Dorinda White, at left, Rainbow Elementary School principal, supports Team Patriots, while Melissa Mims, Madison Elementary School principal, supports Team Jets in fundraising for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. CONTRIBUTED

MADISON – Are you ‘Team Jets’? Or, are you backing ‘Team Patriots’? Educators on Madison campuses are using good-natured rivalry to generate donations for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Principals and staff members have entered the St. Jude Marathon Relay in Memphis, Tenn. on Dec 5. They’re energetically recruiting people to support their cause with a donation to St. Jude.

For the race, five-runner teams finish segments of the 26.2-mile relay. Each runner can subtract one second of their time for each dollar they raise for St. Jude.

Ten Madison principals are participating. They’re collecting donations for Team Jets or Team Patriots, based on whether their young students are zoned for James Clemens or Bob Jones high school.

For Team Patriots, the supporters include Discovery Middle School and Horizon, Rainbow and West Madison elementaries. Team Jets includes staff from Columbia, Heritage, Mill Creek and Madison elementaries. Liberty Middle School and Central Office also are raising funds.

Melissa Mims, principal at Madison Elementary School, is running for St. Jude “in memory of Ansley Smith, a student at Madison elementary that lost the fight to cancer during the summer of 2015. We want to keep her memory alive.”

“Ansley was such a happy, positive child. She visited the school as often as she could during her treatment,” Mims said. “We also have other family members of Madison elementary students that have received treatment from St. Jude.”

As of Nov. 25, fundraising tallies had Team Jets’ donations at $20,429 and Team Patriots at $18,650. Central Office supporters had donated $20,429.

“If your child has ever been in the hospital, it is definitely a challenging situation,” James Clemens Principal Dr. Brian Clayton said. “James Clemens is happy to support such a fine organization like St. Jude that puts kids first.”

Dr. Daphne Jah, West Madison principal, always runs in the marathon because “when a child has been diagnosed with a disease such as cancer, the family doesn’t need to worry about the financial part of the treatment.”

For more information, visit madisoncity.k12.al.us.