As the wind whipped through the trees Sunday morning at the Arboretum in Urbana, 103 women gathered at the starting line and waited for their cue to take off running.

The runners participated in the Women’s Wellness Week 5K, the kickoff for a week of events planned by the Panhellenic Council to educate and unite women.

“I hope women realize how empowering it can be to watch girls go through this together, especially with the 5K,” said Yasmina Mokraoui, senior in LAS and vice president of risk management for Panhellenic Council. “I think this can be a very unifying week for sororities.”

Women from all 24 Panhellenic chapters formed teams of at least five and joined the race.

“I just thought I’d come out and represent my house,” said Jill Czarnik, sophomore in LAS and Delta Gamma sorority member. “It’s good to come out and find an event for my sorority that I’m into.”

Czarnik ran the race in about 20 minutes, but other participants took more time or walked the three-mile course. Czarnik and other runners agreed the race was a fitting start to a week focusing on women’s health and unity.

“Even though we’re in different houses, we can still have a connection that’s bigger,” said Kim Scanlon, sophomore in AHS and Sigma Kappa sorority member.

Each sorority paid $35 to enter participants in the race. The money from the 5K and donations given on the Quad throughout the week will be donated to A Woman’s Place, 505 W. Green St.

“It’s cool to have a philanthropy that all sororities can come together for,” said Cheryl Riordan, senior in LAS and Delta Zeta sorority member. “People will benefit from it, and it will be more empowering.”

Aside from uniting women of the Greek system and the campus, the week will educate women about situations members of their gender face.

“A lot of goals are focused on spreading awareness of women’s issues,” said Beth Rahn, junior in business and vice president of public relations for Panhellenic Council. “We hope it will bring some unity to women and increase their ability to deal with feminine issues.”

Body image, personal safety, rape, alcohol abuse and anything that could be harmful to health will discussed, Mokraoui said.

A self-defense course is scheduled to take place Monday at 7 and 8 p.m. at Campus Recreation Center East, better known as CRCE. A body-image workshop presented by McKinley Health Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in room 314 at Altgeld Hall.

But Mokraoui and Rahn believe the most significant night of the week will be Tuesday, when Andrea Cooper will give a speech titled “Kristin’s Story” at 7 p.m. in the Gregory Hall theater.

“(Cooper’s) daughter, Kristin, committed suicide because she was raped and she didn’t tell anyone,” Mokraoui said. “Later, they found it in her journal that she was raped. The speech should be very powerful and moving.”

Rahn said Cooper’s speech should connect a lot of ideas because it relates to acquaintance rape, depression and suicide – problems she hopes Women’s Wellness Week will empower women to face or avoid.

The schedule also includes popcorn night at the 9 p.m. showing of any movie at Beverly Cinema in Champaign on Wednesday and raffles for discounts at campus businesses such as Pita Pit and T.I.S. College Bookstore.