By Lofton Wheeles
For the Opelika Observer
Women’s Hope Medical Clinic will host its annual Run Like A Mom 5K race and one mile walk on Saturday, March 20.
“Women’s Hope has been in Auburn for 38 years and for almost 38 years, we have done a Spring fundraiser,” said Women’s Hope Communications Director Jeremy Walden. “It’s always been to raise money for Women’s Hope and what we do here. We changed the type of event and the name a few years back because we added a 5K race to it to try to get more younger people involved.”
Women’s Hope helps young families by offering free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, prenatal clinic visits, childbirth classes and parenting classes. The goal of the Run Like a Mom event is to keep this idea a reality.
“Every quarter, we do a fundraiser, and this is our second biggest fundraiser of the year,” Walden said. “Our goal is to raise $30,000.”
The race and walk will be held virtually to allow for more participation.
“There are going to be people who don’t feel comfortable still being around other people and so they’re going to have the option [to participate virtually],” Walden said. “Also, our event is super early in the morning, and there are people who don’t want to get up early in the morning to participate. So, they can do it any time they want.
“We actually have people who participate out-of-state and so they can participate virtually.”
The race also gives participants the opportunity to have a good time virtually while spreading awareness of the event and organization.
“It really is just for fun,” Walden said. “We try to make it, the virtual part, good for social media so people will do it on their own and [in] their own neighborhoods, wherever they are, and take pictures or videos and post it on their social media.”
The in-person 5K race and one mile walk will take place on March 20. The cost to register for the race and walk are $30 and $15, respectively, and registration ends at midnight on March 16.
The race and walk might also be held in-person; however, the details regarding in-person participation are still unconfirmed.
To sign up for either event, go to runsignup.com/Race/AL/Auburn/RunLikeaMom, and to get updates on details regarding the events, go to www.facebook.com/WomensHopeMedicalClinic.