When a friend asked her to organize this year’s Children and Youth Day Fun Run, Jordan Jones, a St. Andrew’s Priory sophomore and standout cross-country runner, eagerly agreed. The race would allow her to apply her passion for running to a community service project for school.

But a series of events led to the cancellation of this year’s Youth Day — an annual October event going back two decades — and that forced Jones, who is only 15, to find leadership skills beyond her years.

Canceling the race would have been the easiest solution for Jones, whose extracurricular schedule also includes playing tuba in the school band and singing at church. With a bit of perseverance she’s managed to organize the race, albeit on a smaller scale.

“I just decided to keep doing it because it’s a good cause and I had worked really hard on it already,” Jones said. “I didn’t want to give up.”

Few would blame Jones if she gave up. In August the state Ethics Commission warned that Youth Day should not utilize state resources, be marketed as a state event or be held on state Capitol grounds — all of which put the race in jeopardy. Without Youth Day, Jones had no marketing, manpower, money or permits for the race, which was previously organized by Punahou alumnus Gordon Kowalkowski, a state 800-meter champion now at the Air Force Academy, and his mother Lydia Hardie.

“When I get nervous or start stressing out, I remember why I’m doing it, why did I sign up to do this run,” Jones said. “Because I wanted the kids to have a day to have fun.”

With help from volunteers, the Children and Youth Day Fun Run will be held Sunday at Kakaako Waterfront Park. The 1- and 3-kilometer race is open to 125 participants under the age of 18. There is no entry fee, and all runners will receive a medal — one of the costlier race expenses.

The race appealed to Jones when Kowalkowski asked her to organize it.

“I’d been trying to think of some community service project I could to do, and this seemed like the perfect thing because I’m a runner and Gordon is a good friend of mine,” Jones said. “I thought it would be the perfect thing for me to take on because it is helping younger kids get involved in running, and it’s in the community.”

She recruited her Priory teachers and classmates and teammates at Pac-Five (St. Andrew’s competes under the Pac-Five team with other small private schools) to volunteer at the race. Utilizing her Youth Day connections, she also secured permits and liability insurance.

But Jones didn’t stop there. On Friday she and her parents visited homeless children in the Kakaako area. She wanted their involvement in the race.

“It went really well,” said Jones, who won Saturday’s Honolulu Marathon Invitational. “We passed out a lot of fliers, people were really appreciative of it. I think a lot of people are going to show up.”

Her role as race organizer has kept Jones busy, hammering out details, responding to email and securing donations.

“I’ve been involved in student leadership for about five years, and I’ve been in student council and that has taught me responsibility, taking care of what you need to take care of,” Jones said. “All these leadership things are helping me with the fun run, so I’m just taking what I learned from all these different leadership activities and so I can use it here.”

Jones had just 32 entries early last week, but that number doubled by the weekend. Her goal is to reach the 125-entry cap.

“There aren’t very many children’s fun runs; it’s usually adult road races,” she said. “I think this will be a great opportunity for the kids, and maybe they’ll want to run more in the future once they try this run. It’s laid-back, not timed, something fun, everyone gets a medal in the end.”

A donation from McDonald’s will cover the costs for race medals. Others have stepped in to print race fliers.

“If people just want to throw a little bit here and there, to help with some of the other things, that’ll be great, too,” Jones said.

All of this will prepare Jones for next year’s race, which she plans to organize because Children and Youth Day is scheduled to return.

“Hopefully, next year we can get the state back into it so it’ll be a lot easier,” Jones said. “Even if we can’t get the state back in, we’ll have a lot more time to plan without the state and be able to plan it, find a different venue and have more time to plan it.”