Running to raise funds to buy shoes for at-risk youth

Friday, May. 16, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY — Running Forward, a running program for at-risk youth, will host a 5K event May 31 to raise funds to buy shoes for youth, as well as for training and other youth activities. The 5K run will be held at the University of Utah. 

“This is a non-profit in which 100 percent of the funds raised go back into the program,” said John Asher, Running Forward co-president. “The proceeds will go toward buying more than 120 pairs of athletic shoes for youth in Title I schools in fourth through sixth grade.”

Running Forward recently was awarded a $2,500 University of Utah Select Health grant because the program encourages at-risk youth to be active and healthy, said Asher; last year the program received the University of Utah Partner of the Year Award with the Lowell Bennion Center, from which they recruit volunteers. 

Running Forward also features a Sports Day in the winter, where the kids participate in an obstacle course training event; it is also the day they receive their shoes. 

In its sixth year, Running Forward now serves six Title I schools in Salt Lake City. Asher and co-president Jake Franklin started the program in 2008 to try to surround the at-risk youth with people they can relate to, such as the president of the Black Chamber of Commerce, who spoke to the youth. 

“We want the kids to see people they can envision themselves becoming, as well as give them ideas for professions other than doctors or lawyers,” said Asher. “Education in general is so competitive the kids need to start planning as early as junior high or elementary school.”

“It’s important to set their foundation early and surround them with mentors at an early age,” added Franklin. 

The University of Utah mentors and volunteers assist in building the youth’s character and self-confidence. 

“We use a 26-lesson manual and lessons from Success magazine from which we build a curriculum. The magazine provided us with books for the kids that have success stories in them such as individuals building their lives after a terrible automobile accident,” said Franklin. “The magazine also has exercises, stretches, and running plans the kids can implement.”

Franklin is planning to take a leave of absence from his role as co-president, but will remain on the organization’s board of directors, he said. He will enter the University of Nebraska Medical School in September.

“God has provided each step for us going forward in this program without letting our fears conquer us,” said Asher. 

“Whenever we have needed something, we have gotten a call,” said Franklin adding that they got started when the first school principal allowed them to come into his school because he believed in them, and then they got their first grant.

The 5K run will be held May 31 at the University of Utah. The event will feature a pancake breakfast and music by the Garage Band, comprised of high school students. 

For information, visit www.runningforward.ut.org.