EL PASO, Texas -- On Feb. 4, 2007, 14-year-old Braden Aboud was skiing at Ski Apache when he fell and died from serious head injuries. More than two years later, close to 2,000 people gathered Sunday to run and walk in his memory and help out area children at the same time.

A classmate of Braden Aboud's at Lincoln Middle School wanted to do something in his memory.

"She thought it was necessary to get to remember him in a way and also help the community," said Pedro Romero, a promoter with Braden Aboud Memorial Race/Walk.

And that is how the memorial came about.

"Last year alone they had a $100,000 that they put out into the community as in tutoring and sports and just helping kids, which is really what Braden did," Romero told KFOX.

They hoped to raise more money this year, with the nearly 2,000 people who attended Sunday.

"He was a kid with a huge heart and I think that his heart still represents how people are out here today, because people still have him in his heart," said Romero.

Vivian Contreras, a member of the El Paso Community College cross country team, won the women's 5k.

"It felt really great. It was a great opportunity for me and for my team," said Contreras.

And she said it made it even better to win in a race that does so much for El Paso's youth.

"It's really awesome to know that I'm running for a good cause and what I'm doing is going to benefit others," Contreras told KFOX.

The money goes to all sorts of different causes for El Paso's children from getting them involved in sports, to providing them with shoes or even something as simple as a warm blanket in the winter time.