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Robert Reubhausen (center) joins his wife, Lyn, and son, Aaron, 6, in raising awareness and money

Over a thousand people came out early Sunday morning to participate in the fifth-annual UCLA Run/Walk, a fund-raiser for the Mattel Children’s Hospital.

The run/walk is organized by a committee of the Student Welfare Commission to raise money for the hospital’s child life/child development program. The program began six years ago, as the Children’s Walk for Life. Last year the event raised $25,000.

This year’s goal was to engage a thousand participants and raise at least $50,000, said Kacie McFarland, a second-year student and event programmer. The total amount raised is yet to be determined.

The theme of this year’s run/walk, “Heroes helping heroes,” equates the efforts of children fighting diseases and the staff and families that help them get through their illnesses.

Both UCLA students and community members participated in the run/walk.

During registration, from about 8 a.m. to 9 a.m., the band Raining Jane performed. A group of “Superheroes,” who later on ran with and cheered the participants, initiated the opening ceremony. They introduced Allan Axibal, host of the event and the performer of Ch*nk in the play “N*gger, Wetb*ck, Ch*nk.”

The guest speakers included Edward McCabe, physician in chief at the Mattel Children’s Hospital, who spoke about the importance of the child life/child development program. Robert Reubhausen, whose son Aaron stayed in the hospital, and another patient, spoke on their experiences with the program.

During the registration and opening ceremonies, participants engaged in activities such as a silent auction, in which they could bid for such prizes as a weekend stay for two at the Beverly Hilton.

The Community Service Commission’s Project Literacy set up games for kids to play.

Event sponsors, including Naked Juice and Relaxation, as well as Westwood businesses such as Diddy Riese Cookies, provided free food and drinks.

Before the run/walk began, cheerleaders from the Los Angeles Avengers, an arena football league team, led a warmup.

The run/walk began next to the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center, and participants went up Charles E. Young Drive past the Seeds University Elementary School towards North Campus. They then turned next to the School of Law to go toward the Royce Hall quad and continued around Perloff Hall. Then they returned to Bruin Plaza, a total of about 5 kilometers. The run/walk was lead by a university police department car.

Kyodo Taiko, a UCLA performance group, played drums in Bruin Plaza. Jonathan Keyes, a soft rock musician from Los Angeles, played while the results of the run/walk were summarized.

The winners of the race were announced in the categories of top team (Bruin Runners), top pledger (Christopher and Jonathan Hung), top male (Nicolas Koneffklatt) and top female (Katherine Schettig).

“The music was cool. The inspirational talk really touched me,” said Steven Homestead, a run/walk participant. “It’s cool to help out a program that helps not only kids but also provides help for their families.”