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Date: 9/26/2023
WEST SPRINGFIELD — Girls on the Run Western MA is hosting its inaugural Sneaker Soiree on Thursday, Oct. 5 at Springfield Country Club in West Springfield, where guests are encouraged to wear their favorite pair of kicks and enjoy an evening of food, fun and inspiration.
Girls on the Run is a physical activity-based, positive youth development program that uses fun running games and dynamic discussions to teach life skills to girls in third to eighth grade. During the 10-week program, girls participate in lessons that foster confidence, build peer connections and encourage community service while they prepare for an end-of-season celebratory 5K event.
General admission is $25 per person. More information and tickets are available at www.girlsontherunwesternma.org/sneaker-soiree. The event will also feature a silent auction where bids will be available online to event attendees and the public starting on Sept. 28. All item donations are welcome and should be directed to Girls on the Run WMA staff. The event will run from 5:30-8 p.m.
Between their spring and fall seasons, Girls on the Run Western Mass. serves over 2,000 kids a year in all four counties of the region. Girls on the Run Western Mass. Council Director Alison Berman spoke with Reminder Publishing about the upcoming fundraiser and the nonprofit’s mission in serving young girls in the region.
According to Berman over 64% of participants are on full or partial financial systems in order to participate in the program. Proceeds from the Sneaker Soiree will allow more girls to experience the transformative impact of Girls on the Run.
“One of our missions is to make sure that nobody is turned away for financial need and so because of that we end up doing a lot of fundraising,” Berman said.
Berman explained that this upcoming fundraiser will be the first of its kind since before the coronavirus pandemic started. She added in the spring of this year, over 1,000 children were in the program and Girls on the Run gave out $80,000 in financial assistance.
“It’s partly fundraising but also to get the word out, have a fun event and have more people in the community start to get to know about it,” Berman added.
The program brings benefits to kids involved in many ways according to Berman including social and emotional skills as well as physical activity. Berman shared a YouTube video from the spring Girls on the Run event where many children involved voiced their support for the program and what they were taking away from it.
“The thing I like about Girls on the Run is I get to socialize with other girls my age and you get to do a bunch of running, and you get to meet new people you never met before,” said one girl in the video.
“I like how the people here empower you and get you to keep on going even when you’re tired,” said another girl.
Coaches also spoke in the video about the impact they see on the children they are working with through the program.
“Being a Girls on the Run coach is one of the most rewarding things I’ve done as an educator. Watching my girls become confident, courageous and strong while empowering them to recognize and embrace what makes each of them unique and special is what inspires me the most as a coach,” said Coach Dazy from Springfield, a coach for Girls on the Run Western Mass.
Coach Maria from Chicopee said she loves seeing the growth in the girls and how it impacts their social skills in school.
“Some of them don’t even know each other at the beginning and all of a sudden at the end they’re best friends and they see each other in the hallways — I’m a teacher — so I see that throughout the building so its nice for them to have their own little community,” said Maria. “I think I get more out of it sometimes than they do, they don’t see it but I get a different bond with them rather than being a teacher.”
To watch the whole video titled, “Spring 2023 What I Like about GOTR” head to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQGx2tANkzE.
Berman added on the individual level, she sees girls being able to grow their social skills and feel comfortable with their identities.
“We hear from teachers that the kids who are doing Girls on the Run are coming back into the classroom and being leaders in the classroom, so it’s also helping change the culture of the schools,” Berman said. “We hear a lot about kids’ confidence increasing, doing things they never thought was possible, making new friends, all those kinds of things.”
Berman added that the physical activity girls get from the program is also important as it is another avenue of growing an individual’s confidence around themselves.
“Even though the name is Girls on the Run, nobody needs to be a runner. It’s really about a program to increase kids’ confidence,” Berman said. “Part of it is being able to set goals and achieve them and so even if they walked the whole 5K, or if they run it, they’re finding themselves seeing what they accomplished was possible.”
Girls on the Run WMA welcomes all youth who identify as girls, non-binary and gender non-conforming and remain steadfast in serving the whole community by removing barriers to participation, financial and otherwise.
Established in 2015, Girls on the Run WMA is an independent council of Girls on the Run international and serves about 2,000 youth annually from all four Western Massachusetts counties. The fall season kicked off the week of Sept. 11 with about 700 participants registered. The fall 5K is happening on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 11 a.m. at Western New England University.
As they await the upcoming fundraiser, Berman said she is excited to once again bring the Girls on the Run community together for a celebration in helping to raise money for the program.
“It means a lot. I think bringing together a group of people that are excited about the mission and being able to at the same time raise money so that our kids can participate is huge. We’re really excited and we’re going to have different people, coaches and kids speaking at the event so people can hear firsthand about the impact of the program,” Berman said. “It’s also just about spreading the word so that more people can know about the great work that’s happening.”