As I stood at the start line of our 5th Annual 5K Run for Our Community, I was blown away thinking about the evolution of this event. What started as a small fundraising idea from some of our middle school students to raise money for on-site educational supplies has become a full-on race that now provides those same kids (plus 350 other Springboard kids!) with savings for higher education in their own Children’s Savings Accounts (CSA).
This year, we raised over $27,000, allowing us to seed and provide incentives for over 100 new accounts. We’ve said this so many times before, but it bears repeating that a child with anywhere from $1-$499 in a CSA is 3 times more likely to attend college and 4 times more likely to graduate. In other words, thanks to your support, over 100 new, low-income students are now a part of that promising statistic. We cannot thank you enough.
Over 200 people joined us on Saturday, March 30th for the race and the block party, and I think the pictures speak for themselves in showing how much fun we had! Every time we have this event I am reminded of the magic that can happen when a whole community comes together to encourage one another. Springboard residents, community partners and leaders, local supporters, property developers, board members, and others joined with one another at the start line and spent the rest of the morning celebrating at our block party. Relationships were formed, connections were made, and collectively, we walked alongside children and families on their journey toward higher education.
This race, though, was our final 5K as an organization. Over the last five years, you all have helped us raise over $100,000 that has gone directly to support the educational needs of children in low-income communities. We could not be more grateful. And we promise this will not be the last Springboard event! Stay tuned, because we already have some exciting ideas for new ways to engage our residents and community as we support families on their paths toward their goals.
But before we bring this chapter to a close, we wanted to take space to ensure we say thank you to all of you–for coming to the race, for making a donation, spreading the word on social media, and doing what you could to help make our 5K such a success for five years in a row! We hope you’ll spend some time looking through our 5K Facebook album and remembering that morning, and the last five years, with as much joy as I do!