OLD ORCHARD BEACH — What began eight years ago as a 5K race to remember a lost son, has become something much bigger, both literally and figuratively.

The Run for Cash was started by Nancy Kelley and her husband Bob in 2005 after their son Christopher Cash was killed in Iraq while serving in the Army. Saturday’s race will be almost eight years to the day when Cash was killed, on June 24, 2004.

Cash loved to run, especially along the roads of Old Orchard Beach, which prompted Nancy Kelley to memorialize her son by holding a race. However, it has become so much more than a race. It has now become a day to race, run, or walk just for the love of the activity. It has become a way to memorialize a lost son and friend, and to all those who serve. It has become a way to bring the community together.

“My plan was at the beginning, when we founded it exactly the next June after Chris died, was to have an event, a family race day,” said Nancy Kelley. “And I like to call it the Capt. Cash Family Race Day, because it isn’t just a 5K, it’s much more than that.”

While the number of participants is relatively modest, at about 400 runners, walkers, and kids fun run participants, the amount of people involved and the number of people touched is widespread. The Kelleys have been awarding scholarships to local students since the race’s inception. They choose students from Old Orchard Beach High School, Biddeford High School and Thornton Academy, who are not just quality people in the classroom and in the community, but that also participated in a sport. In all, $22,000 in scholarships have been awarded since the race began in 2005.

There are some new additions to this year’s event. First and foremost is a redesigned course, which starts and ends in front of Old Orchard Beach High School. There will also be a “Stuff the Bus” to support local food pantries, and now teams are encouraged to run in the race. The largest team that will participate this year is the Loranger Middle School girls running team from Old Orchard Beach, which is guided by Beth Nason.

The team that Nancy Kelley and others will be keeping the closest eye on won’t even be running on the streets of Old Orchard Beach. They will be thousands of miles away in Afghanistan.

“They’re doing a satellite Run for Cash, from the Maine Army National Guard. They’re going to do the run on the day of the race,” she said. The team is headed by Donny Rafford, a Portland native who has run the race in the past. Rafford was set to run this year’s race, but was deployed to Afghanistan. For Rafford and his fellow soldiers to take the time to run the race in Cash’s honor and memory, means the world to Nancy Kelley, she said.

“I can’t tell you, I can’t even put it into words. It’s just amazing that Donny would contact me. The race has meant a lot to him, being in the Army National Guard,” Kelley said. “I think it’s just very special that they’re going to take the time on Saturday to do it there. And I’m sure the meaning over there will be amazing, because they know the story of Chris.”

The event begins with the kid’s fun run at 7:45 a.m. The race itself begins at 8:30 a.m., and the walkers start at 8:45 a.m. Kelley said that she had people register for the race from all over New England, as well as some from Canada and states all around the country, with ages ranging from 2 or 3 in the fun run to runners in their 80s.

— Contact Wil Kramlich at 282-1535, Ext. 323.