By BRIITANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
The Noon Exchange Club of Copperas Cove hosted its annual Mayfest Fun Run 5K, drawing roughly 20 to 30 participants walking or running through through a hilly course in support of local child abuse prevention efforts.
Joshua Threat, president of the Noon Exchange Club and a member for approximately 10 years, said the event’s impact is felt most directly because the funds stay close to home.
“Since we’re from Cove, we can help organizations in Cove better themselves,” Threat said.
Over the past five years, the club has donated more than $105,500 in race proceeds to area nonprofits, including: the Boys & Girls Club, Communities In Schools, the Rainbow Room, Hope Pregnancy Center, Cove House, and AWARE.
All proceeds from the 2026 event will again support local organizations providing child abuse prevention and family services in the Copperas Cove area. The Rainbow Room provides essential supplies such as blankets and bedding to children removed from their homes. Threat said the Boys and Girls Club is also a priority recipient.
“I feel like that’s the immediate impact,” he said. “You want to help out where you can, right there in the moment, and that’s what people really need is in the moment help, and I think that’s what we’re doing.”
The course, which took race participants down the highway and onto Pecan Cove and around to Ogletree Pass included at least one notable incline and challenged even experienced runners. This was the first time participating in this particular race for Opele Niupulusu, a firefighter with the Copperas Cove Fire Department. Niupulusu was the fifth person in the race to finish the race, coming in at a time of 30 minutes.
He said he has run in other 5Ks and even a 10K. He said that having his wife and son and two nieces cheer him on was awesome.
“Me and my wife have this goal thing to where we’re trying to influence our young, especially our kids,” Opele Niupulusu said. “It’s best to set that example early on so that way you don’t have to encounter it and it becomes a problem later on down the road, so it means so much because they’re seeing us. As much as I’m the one running it, and they’re just sitting over here, supporting, it’d better if they were running it with me.”
For Taylor Puglisi, a military spouse in her second year living in Texas, the event was discovered through her apartment complex and offered a welcome way to connect with the community.
“This, I would say, is probably more challenging, just because the hills were so steep,” Puglisi said about the course. “But honestly, even with the hills and everything, I thought that this 5K went by quickly overall. As a runner, it didn’t feel as prolonged like some other 5Ks I’ve done that are just totally flat. It’s like ‘This is never ending. I’m just running and running,’ but with this one, I feel like I had a lot of things to look at, and the terrain was changing. So, although it was harder, I really liked this one.”
Puglisi was appreciative of the fact that the race supported the cause of child abuse awareness.
“I just think it’s so awesome to have events like that,” Puglisi said about the race. “It’s a cool way to get the community involved in something that maybe they don’t hear about on a day to day.”
Runners looking for their next race can find the Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce’s Jackrabbit Run, part of the CenTex Race Series, scheduled for Saturday, May 9th in Ogletree Gap, at 8 a.m.
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