GIRLS ON THE RUN?

AND FEDERAL GRANTS AND PRIVATE SPONSORSHIP HELP KEEP THEM ON THEIR WAY.

OUTSTANDING.

GO! …. nothing but YOU ! GO ! Girl! (Forgive the euphemism.) You Go! Molly Barker, our-time Hawaii Ironman Triathlete, Founder and Vision Keeper of Girls on the Run International. The impact this woman is making is HUGE. One girl at a time. And the various chapters all get funded through grants and donations. OUTSTANDING.

There’s too much to tell and too little room to say it. OK … here goes.

Girls on the Run seeks to deliver a message to its young girl participants. “Girls on the Run promotes physical as well as emotional, mental and character development. The girls complete the program with a stronger sense of identity, a greater acceptance of themselves, a healthier body image and an understanding of what it means to be part of a team.”

A 501( c ) 3 established in 1996 based out of Charlotte, NC., GOTR – with the support of grants as well as private donations and corporate sponsorship – has been helping girls across the US develop their self -esteem, improve their eating attitudes, their body image and have a positive peer group and positive role models for her future.

They work with girls ages 8 – 13. The timing is critical. This impact hits them well before the sex and drugs issues are at their highest decibel level, if even an issue at all. The participants develop the kind of confidence that carries them through high school, through college, through life.

Where did she get the idea? Molly Barker writes that one day on a run, she experienced an entirely new…..

….. and empowered sense of herself. What she calls the” Girl Box” that had incarcerated her,just… shattered; and she was free.

In writing about how it all began, she writes “In 1976, I bought my first pair of running shoes. I was fifteen then and like most fifteen year old girls, trying to figure out who I was inside a changing body. I was desperately wanting to be liked by the beautiful crowd–popular with the boys. But I couldn’t fit into the box the world placed over the spark of my spirit. The box told me things I knew in my soul weren’t true: That the way I looked was more important than who I was inside. That being a woman meant keeping emotions like anger to myself. That having a boyfriend meant giving up part of my own identity. But I stepped in anyway. Hours spent trying to mold my body, my lifestyle, my life into what the box required were extremely painful.

So I ran. I’d strap on those running shoes and head for the woods, the streets, wherever my feet would take me. I felt Beautiful. Strong. Powerful. I felt a part of something greater than myself.

On July 7th, 1993, I remember it well. I put on my running shoes and ran at sunset. I’m not sure what instant of the run the box disappeared, but like a glass womb it shattered around me and pushed me out, born to an entirely new freedom. It was a moment of personal awakening…”

WOW.
What an experience that must have been.
It defined her purpose. It drove her. It drove her … to create GOTR.

According to Rita DiGioacchino DeBate, Ph.D., MPH, CHES, who was contracted to perform an evaluation of this organization has found it to have a measurably positive impact on the participants. ” Dr. DeBate found that (GOTR’s) curricula improve girls’ self-esteem, body size satisfaction, and physical activity behaviors to a statistically significant extent. Also noted are positive changes regarding attitudes towards physical activity, health behaviors, and empowerment.”

WOW.

Here’s a woman who had a deep experience of her own that changed her life. She decided to start something locally for girls to share in her experience. She eventually found there to be so much interest that she organized it into a non profit, thus able to get easily funded through gifts. Today she is flying all over the world, every week a new destination, to serve the needs of the organization that she began not so long ago.

By her own acknowledgment she never saw this to be as big as it is now, at the outset. It is an international organization touching girls all over the world, connecting them with other women in their community to help them get more of the “village raising the child effect.” and get girls out of the “Girl Box”.

Why so excited? Alright, let’s walk around to the tail end of the beast: we complain about and incarcerate the ones involved in behaviors that weigh on society, yet we as a society have very little in place to help educate the problems away. Rampant problems like pregnant teens, girls with eating disorders, teen depression, drug and /or alcohol abuse, trouble with the law, girls in prostitution plague our culture. GOTR seeks to help girls avoid the whole mess.

I deeply appreciate her vision. As she shares her vision of being 70, she writes, “In the year 2030, I’ll be 70. My daughter will be 32. If I have anything to say about it, she will never have to climb out of the Girl Box. Girls on the Run will shatter the Girl Box, like the spirit did for me that July night and help her and other girls feel comfortable simply being themselves.”

Powerful stuff.

One person’s idea becoming a reality, funded, and adding benefit to the many. OUTSTANDING. WE all should be doing this.

Not unlike the young man in a coastal CA town, who established a Green Teen Clean-up Crew that builds teams of youngsters who not only clean up their neighborhood but also organize an educational, locally focused website as well public events to inform people on how they can act to green up their lifestyle.

One group of people’s casual conversation becoming a reality and helping many get off welfare and get re-trained , helped by federally funded programs. The group of ladies at Direct Action Welfare Group ( DAWG), who had been themselves on welfare, got informed about their rights as citizens, and got funding to get retrained for new work, and got off welfare. But they did not stop there. They founded their own federally funded organization to help others get raining, food, clothing and work – breaking the cycle of poverty. An outstanding and remarkable feat.

These people all have a few things in common. They noticed their dream rolling around their brain and sat up and paid attention. One. Two. They acted on the idea. Three. They all got federally funded to get it achieved. Some went further to get more than federal grants by getting corporate sponsorships and private donations. THEY DID IT.

What’s going on with your dream? You know, that thing that moves you to tears when you feel into it? “But , where to start?” Sure it takes planning. Anything worthwhile does. Think about what you’d do with some money that you had to use towards helping others. Really. Let that dream get off the ground. Look into it.Invariably, it’s that passion of yours that will touch us and help us live our lives better. As Molly Barker’s organization has. Her mission? “To educate and prepare girls for a life time of self-respect and healthy living.” Worthy goal. (By teh way, she tried this same kind of thing for boys and no one was interested. Good for them for trying.)

What’s your mission? Get it out there.

Get funded. Help us to see what you see.

Grants are there NOW. For your dream. For your idea. Sure it takes planning. Anything worthwhile does. The way Federal Funds are disbursed these days is remarkably different from what it was just one year ago. There is someone at the helm seeking to get things going in this country. RIDE THIS WAVE NOW, before it passes. Think about what you’d like some funding for, get a dream off the ground, look into it. Need help? Get it here.

To read more about Girls on the Run , visit http://www.girlsontherun.org/default.html here….

To Donate To GOTR, click here.

For corporate sponsors, click here.

“Your contributions will help
* Reach thousands of girls across the US;
* Continue development of the Girls on the Run programs;
* Continue the research for the Girls on the Run programs;
* Provide financial assistance to communities and individuals in need;
* Support the work of the National GOTR Council. “

AMAZING woman… AMAZING journey .. AMAZING stuff.