Community Corner

Q&A: Todd Davy, Viking Victory Run Founder, Chosen as Person of the Year

North Canton Patch readers casted their votes this past week to determine North Canton's Person of the Year

The competition was stiff, but North Canton Patch readers made it clear who they'd like to see as North Canton's Person of the Year.

With 22 percent of the vote, Todd Davy came out on top.

Davy is the founder of the Viking Victory Run, a race that took place for the first time in 2012 and aimed to raise money for North Canton's elementary schools as well as bring the community together.

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Learn a little more about Davy as he answers five questions from North Canton Patch.

Name: Todd Davy
Occupation: Installation manager, DRB Systems, Inc. in Green
Family: Wife Wendy; kids TJ, 11, and Evan, 9

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North Canton Patch: The person who nominated you for North Canton's Person of the Year did so because of your efforts in organizing the Viking Victory Run. Can you tell us what it was like to see the event take place after all the work you put into it?

Todd Davy: That was a very exciting day for all of us that were involved. I’m generally a pretty hyper guy — but what I remember most about that day was a sense of calm. The group of volunteers that worked on this race made everything run very smooth — and the true “people of the year” are all of the people who volunteered their time to make this event successful. I was just a guy with an idea — our volunteers did all the work, and they deserve all of the credit.

North Canton Patch: Do you feel like the race accomplished what you hoped it would?

Davy: We started working on the event in September of 2011, with an expectation of about 300 runners and a pipe dream of raising $8,000 for our PTO/PTA groups. We ended up with 600 runners, and we raised over $17,000. In my wildest dreams, I never thought that we would raise that amount, or have that many runners. Our volunteer staff spent countless hours going above and beyond to make this event great; our school administration helped us at every turn; and the city supported our event wholeheartedly. We’re already working on the 2013 race. If you’d like to sponsor our event, or run in the event, head to www.vikingvictoryrun.com for more details. Our goal is to have 1,000 runners and a $20,000 donation to our PTO/PTA groups this year.

North Canton Patch: You're very involved in the North Canton community, from the Viking Victory Run to coaching. What makes you care so deeply for this community?

Davy: We live in a very active, caring community. It’s pretty easy to get caught up in that and want to help out as much as you can. I consider myself lucky that I get to send my kids to such a great school, and that we get to live in a fantastic neighborhood with such great people.  

North Canton Patch: If you could change something about your community for the better, what would it be?

Davy: I think that we can all do a little more to help out our schools and our wonderful educators. If you have an hour a week to volunteer to help out a teacher, do it. Attend a PTO or PTA meeting. Go watch a Hoover High basketball game, or wrestling match, or a hockey game, and buy 50-50 tickets to help support the booster clubs. There are so many ways that you can help out academic or athletic clubs at the schools — just volunteer! We should do whatever we can to make sure that our schools have the tools that they need to help our children succeed.

North Canton Patch: Where do you think your desire to give back came from? Your family, a friend, or perhaps a teacher?

Davy: My family inspires me to want to give back. I’m a little biased, but I think I married the greatest girl in the world, and we’ve got two pretty awesome kids. They inspire me every day to want to do what I can to help out.


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