S2Ep24: Kim and Carrie with Girls on the Run

Kim Chitty is the Executive Director of Girls on the Run Delaware. She has been with the organization since its inception in 2005 and remains passionate about the mission. She is married and has 2 adult daughters, both of whom participated in and coached Girls on the Run. 

Carrie Townsend is the program director for Girls on the Run Delaware for Kent and Sussex County. She feels honored to have worked in this role for 10 years and is thrilled with the program's growth in southern Delaware. Originally from Milford, she and her husband raised their now adult son in Dover before moving to Rehoboth Beach where they now live.  A lifelong runner, Carrie is dedicated to both the Girls on the Run program and the girls that it serves in her community.  

Transcript

So I am Kim Chitty and, um, I am the executive director of girls in the red Delaware. And I've been with the organization. So we started, um, Girls on the Run Delaware in 2005. Um, actually it's kind of a crazy story. So, so I, the Girls on the Run, um, international is, are a large organization and they have been offering the Girls on the Run programming since 1996.

Oh, wow. That's a long time. Yeah. It's a long time. So, but, but, and they're headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Yeah. I happen to grow up in Charlotte, North Carolina, Molly Barker, who started girls on the, started girls on the run, went to my rival high school and was a couple of years older. So I have always known about, I've just sort of known about it.

And, but the way the, the international organization is, is organized is there are different councils all over the country. So for example, our [00:01:00] organization is girls on the run Delaware. So we're our own five Oh one C three, but we do pay a licensing fee. We do work with girls. We have branding standards. We use the same curriculum.

We have a national. Coaches training. So there's so much of what we do is, is branded through international, but we have our own autonomy within the state of Delaware as to how we want to run our organization, where we want to offer our programming, that kind of thing. Um, so anyway, so long story short, I was, um, Um, in, um, had two little kids had been in the workforce, took some time off from the workforce came.

We moved to Delaware and I was just kind of itchy to do something. And so it was funny. I was talking to my mom one day and I said, I'm just, I'm just itchy to do something. And, and she said, well, just keep your eyes wide open. You never know. You never know what's out there. Just keep your eyes open. So I went into the Delaware running company, which is a running store up in Wilmington And there was a little flyer on the bulletin board.

I went in to get running shoes and there was a little flyer on the bulletin, the board said, coming soon, girls on the run, interested in getting involved [00:02:00] and had like, you know how they have little snippets and you can rip it off and call a number. So I ripped it off and called this number and, and a voice answered on the phone and, and it was a gal who had been a volunteer with girls on the run, um, in Charlotte and she'd been moved up to Wilmington.

Her husband had been relocated to Wilmington and she had looked to get involved with girls on the run as a volunteer and realized that there wasn't a girls in the run, Delaware A chapter. So she thought, well, that's, that's what I'm going to do. And so I, I just caught her right up, right at the very start of it.

So I called her and, and we met at a coffee shop and I expected her to look like me when she came in and she was like 15 years younger, I felt so old, but um, anyway, she was adorable. And so I just kind of jumped on the bandwagon with her and, and helped her get it going. And, and I coached, we had that fall of, um, 2005, we had four teams.

And 54 girls and I coached one of the first teams that that fall and then, um, I just as a volunteer. And then that winter she said, Hey, do you want to, maybe we can do this together. [00:03:00] Would you like to come help and be the program director? So I jumped in and, and, um, started with her in the winter of 2006 and then she then got transferred a year or two later with her husband to Alabama where she started a chapter there.

And, um, chapters. So, um, so I took over as executive director then. And then we've. You know, we've grown by leaps and bounds. We started off. We were just in Newcastle County for the first, gosh, six or seven years, and we had people calling us from Kent County, a few from Sussex County saying, Hey, can we do the girls in the red program?

Can we do the girls in the red program? And I really are Our designated territory was, was just New Castle County. So we worked with International to expand our territory to be the entire State. And um, it was great because Carrie, um, at the time, will you tell them how you got involved? Well, the first, um, my first, um, um, first contact with New Castle was, um, uh, with with Girls on the Run Delaware.

I'm a boy mom and my son was going to school at [00:04:00] St. Ann's Episcopal in Middletown and one of my dear friends was coaching the Girls on the Run team there and she was the head coach so she had a lot of responsibilities for the team and she asked me if I would be her daughter's running buddy. And I said, and I'm a runner.

I love to run. I said, Oh, and I loved her daughter, Isabella. And I said, yes. And so that was my first look at Girls on the Run programming. And I started to learn about what the program did in terms of the curriculum and the messages they were giving to these young girls and how empowering it was. And, um, so I stepped in as a running buddy and I went up to the 5k and it was It was just such an amazing experience.

I loved it. So, um, fast forward, I, um, moved down to the beach, um, and I, I reconnected with Jane Castle, who I worked with, her husband, and started to volunteer a little bit with the program. Um, and then Jane approached me about having coffee. with her and Kim one day. I [00:05:00] met him in Dover and it was just so nice.

They were going to expand the program in Kenton Sussex. I said, I'd love to help. And, um, turned out it was a job interview. They sprung that on you. It wasn't even that. It was just a lovely experience. Um, and I was at a place in my life where I just was so welcoming that, and I thought, And of course, I love the program.

So I hopped on board right away, just like Kim. Um, and we've taken it from there. That was nine years ago. Yeah. So Carrie has been really, I mean, it's been instrumental having somebody who really knows the community in the area. So she's really helped us build the, the, the Kenton Sussex, um, part of our programming.

So now we're up and down the whole state and, um, and it's been, it's been great. It's so easy to do though, because It's sort of a word of mouth thing. It had started to grow here organically in Kent County, um, and people just from school to school started hearing about the program and they wanted it at their school.

And then the same thing happened in Sussex County and it has just grown in leaps and bounds down there. [00:06:00] We're in every school district, in every school district in the state and yeah, and most times in, uh, school districts in every school. So we're really happy to see. Yeah. I hear about you guys all the time.

Yeah. Yeah. And we don't have kids. So yeah. So you're getting around with everything. But how did, what is the mission before? Like what is the purpose behind it? Yep. Yep. The mission. So you would, you would think that With a name like girls on the run that you are running program and we are, we, the girls do run.

Um, but the really, the, the, the bigger emphasis is on, um, is on empowering girls to be confident. The mission is to empower girls to be, to be joyful, healthy, confident using an experience based curriculum that. Um, creatively integrates running for the for the true mission. Um, but really, so, so we use, I like to think of it as using running as a tool to teach empowerment, to teach life skills to girls in third, fourth, fifth grade.

Girls in the Run is third, fourth, and fifth grade. We have another program. Transcribed [00:07:00] Heart and Soul, which is 6th, 7th and 8th. Oh, I didn't know that. Uh huh. So it's, it's, Girls on the Nerve is really the lion's share of what we do, but there is, there is a real little niche, um, for the, for the girls that want to do Heart and Soul.

Um, but, but like I said, it's, it's, it's really more about empowering girls to feel fabulous about themselves on the inside and, and giving them the strength to be confident in their own voices and to stand up for what they believe in and to make wise choices with regards to their friends and how, how can you be a good friend and what does a good friend look like?

like and, um, we have a component of the of the curriculum where they give back to the community and the team is as a whole, um, decides on a, on a community impact project and what can they do as a group to impact positively impact their community. Sorry, positively impact their community. So it's really much more than, it's much more than a running program.

Um, what do you use in the curriculum? What does that look like? Like, are there like for the kids that sign up for it, are they getting, you know, like a little classroom time? Is it like, how is it taught throughout? [00:08:00] Because as a training pro, so they are working in training for the 5k. Um, but then how are they getting this message?

So the format of every lesson is. is exactly the same. Um, we have a quote unquote getting on board section where you sort of introduce the topic. Um, one of the ones, examples that I give because I feel like it's so, such a visual, I'm such a visual person. I don't know if that's part of being a three or not, but, um, but, um, one of our lessons and one of the curricula is we talk about bullying.

I'm sorry. I was gossiping. How about gossiping? And so we introduce the topic. We tell them we're going to introduce the topic of what we're going to talk about. And, um, we have a tube of toothpaste and you scored a little bit of the toothpaste out of the tube and you say to the girls, you have, how does this tube of toothpaste and your words, how are they connected?

And they kind of pontificate and think about that. And we have some conversation and dialogue and, and really then you say, have you ever tried to put toothpaste back in the tube? Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. And it's sort of like your words. What you say, you put it out there. You can't ever really take it back. So you need to be really mindful [00:09:00] about what you're saying.

So we, you would introduce the topic of what the day is. And so we would introduce it. We'd have some conversation, get the girls kind of thinking about what the main theme of that particular lesson is. Um. Um, we would do some warm up exercises, some strength and conditioning to get the blood flowing. And then the middle next little section is a more of a warm up section where we might play a game, um, that would be short distance running, maybe relay.

So for example, um, one of the games we play on the bullying lesson, it would be like red light, green light. And so I, as the coach would, would call out a statement. And if it's a, if it's a bullying statement or a statement that a bully might say, mind you, we would have talked about what a bully is and all of that ahead of time, the girls would take giant steps backwards.

And then if I were to make a statement that was a positive statement, that something wouldn't be a bullying, they'd run for it. full force ahead until I said stop. And then so they would get the, you give them examples as to what, what bullying is all about and that kind of thing. And then, um, of course after each little game we would come back and kind of process, have [00:10:00] some conversation.

There's there, the curriculum is so fabulous for coaches because it's tells you exactly what you need to do and gives you questions to ask the girls to encourage dialogue. But then you don't have to follow it. I mean, you do follow the curriculum, but if you, you go with the flow of how the conversation is going with the girls.

And then, and then lastly, there's a quote unquote, the workout portion where they, they do do the majority of their running and they have an opportunity to set lap goals for themselves. It's not competitive. So your goal might be to run five laps. five laps. Your goal might be to be to run 20 laps. And, and it's all about putting your best self forward.

It's not trying to compete with a person next to you. Like just the individual, like all individual. Yeah. It's great. So then you do your workout. So they're, and it's not like, okay, now girls, we're going to run for 20 minutes or we're going to run for 30 minutes. It might be, you know, the lesson on gratitude.

They would, they would do a lap and then they, um, we might have a poster that has gratitude written down the side and then with a G they might [00:11:00] all write something that they're grateful for that starts with a G and an R. And so they're, they're, they're, you're incorporating and reiterating the lesson in incorporating running.

So they're getting physical activity while also. Also teaching some of these, you know, great life lessons and they're having fun while they're doing it. Yeah, that's awesome. Exactly. So once you like to learn that lesson, you sort of think about it when you're running, you know, it really gets you into here.

And as you're saying, like at this age, Getting these messages and building that foundation as they move forward in life is so important. Yeah, because middle school is so hard. It's really the time where I feel like you just see the light sometimes leave these girls eyes is middle school. So it's sort of like you're getting to them, empowering them beforehand.

And hopefully arming them with tools so that when they reach middle school, they have the confidence and they have the tools to, how to know how to navigate the mean girls and some of the tougher things that peer prep, we've talked about peer pressure and some of the things that they're going to. That they're going to face.

Is that why it is based on like third, fourth, fifth graders [00:12:00] to get them prepared for middle school? Yeah. Real. I think that the, the curriculum, the, the, so that's one of the great, greatest things about girls around international. They, they have the, the folks there that have the PhDs and, and they write the curriculum and so it's research based, evidence based and, and we just are wonderful to be the beneficiaries of all of their hard work for the curriculum.

So say for example, and we have. Well, we have three curriculums, um, and we rotate those. So if a girl were to participate three times in a row, she could get three different curriculums. We have just introduced a whole new suite, um, of curriculums. Girls Learn Red International did a, did a huge study focus group of parents, teachers, coaches, girls, trying to figure out what.

That is, you know, to keep the curriculum fresh and appropriate with what's happening in today's society. And so they, they just introduced and launched this new series and it's all based around confidence. And we did the first series of, um, or the first curriculum this spring, it's, [00:13:00] um, it's confident, uh, be confidence in yourself.

It's all about confidence in yourself. The next curriculum is going to be, um, confidence to do hard things. The whole curriculum is based on confidence to do hard things. And then the third one, um, is, is confidence to stand up, to stand up. So, um, I'm really excited about this new, this new suite, um, of, of curriculums.

Um, but anyway, but my point was, so for example, um, if, if you have a, a, a cousin in California, That's does girls on the run. They're doing the same curriculum that we're doing here in Delaware that they're doing in Florida. And we have a national coach training so that the coaches are being trained the way the same way.

So really the integrity of the program is maintained throughout the country, which is, which is really important because you want people to have a positive experience and to be delivering the same, the same curriculum, no matter what part of the country there. Is it in every state? Yes, we are in every state and Canada.

Oh, That's where the international comes in. Very cool. You have to have one. Yeah. I mean, I can't [00:14:00] remember the exact number, but it's over 2 million girls that have participated. Oh my gosh. I saw that when I was doing it. Yeah. Well, what are you guys seeing as how it's influencing the communities? Well, we do hear, um, From anecdotally from our team, because a lot of our coaches are teachers, as you know, from your practice.

And we hear from teachers and administrators about the ripple effect of our program in the schools because our girls on the run teams are getting these great messages and their help spreading that within their school community. And it definitely has a positive impact in the school community.

Especially if they're requesting it to be in there, you know, they're seeing it. Yeah. Well, and that's what I would say, you know, Carrie mentioned this earlier, we, we really have grown. It's a grass, been a grassroots movement. We hardly have really targeted, marketed to get new schools. It's because the teachers have had a great experience.

They tell their, their teacher friends, and then we get a call from a school that wants to have the program or somebody's kid did the pro daughter did the program and they tell their neighbor and then their neighbor wants to have it in their [00:15:00] school. And so it's really been word of mouth, which I think is a true testament to the.

to the, to the impact and the quality of the, of the programming. And the other thing that I feel like speaks to that is we have teachers, the majority of our coaches are teachers. They've been, they have families of their own all day in school yet staying another hour and a half after school to deliver the program.

We're so grateful. We are so grateful. Absolutely. But I think you wouldn't choose to do that if you didn't feel like it really was positively impacting. So they're volunteers. There's no like incentive. So our coaches are volunteers. So anyway, you don't have to be a teacher though. Anyone can do it.

community volunteers, parents and teachers. Um, but but most of our coaches are teachers. And as Kim said, think about a long day in the classroom and then they choose to stay. For an additional hour and a half and, and coach our teams. Wow. I will say though, I always say this to coaches in the training, you know, the curriculum is so great.

And, and while it's, while it's designed for girls in third, fourth and fifth grade, the messages. Okay. I, I need to be reminded. There's a lesson on negative self talk. Yes. I read [00:16:00] that one. And, and. And it's so important for everyone to get, I mean, like I need to work on turning around my negative self talk to positive self talk.

So when I read that, that lesson, I'm like, okay, Gary. Yeah. Yeah. And balance, keeping balance in your life. Yeah. These are just good life lessons in general. Yes. Yeah. For everybody. So our coaches, like they, not only do they feel rewarded by what they're doing, but they also feel like they're getting some benefit from the curriculum as well.

Right. Yeah. I think so. Yeah. Well, it's also good to hear this for like, If the first time you hear about these different lessons is in your, you know, college or in your twenties, it's a lot different than if the first time it's in fifth grade. Right. We also hear from coaches like, wow, wish, wish I had this in third grade.

Yeah. Oh man. Yeah. Yeah. No. The other thing that I think is an over really cool overriding thing about girls in the Run is the, so the girls over the course of the 10 week season are, are training to do a 5K mm-Hmm. again at their own pace. It's not competitive. We don't time the race. Every girl wears a bib that a race bib that says number one on it.

'cause in our mind they're all number ones. Oh, cute. That's awesome. Um, they. They [00:17:00] go through this giant pink and green arch that says the finish line is just the beginning. And if you think to yourself, okay, if you tell an eight year old whose legs are not but what two feet high, they're going to run three miles.

That's overwhelming. But they chip away at it week after week. They train and when they come in. to be at that finish line. I've been at every finish line we've ever had. It's, it never diminishes the impact on me watching the spirit and the smiles and the feeling of success as they cross that finish line.

So if you can teach an eight year old that if you set your mind to something, anything is achievable. And so that tagline on the finish, the other finish line is just the beginning. Yes, it is. You did this. What else can you do? Yeah. And it is really special. I feel like you're also instilling work ethic too.

Right? Like doing something over a continuous period of time and then seeing the fruit of your labor essentially. Yeah. Well, you're not just talking about it. You're showing it. And I think that's really, you know, people hear about like, Oh, you got to work hard for things. But like, what does that mean? And like any goal is really that whole, like, okay, we're doing this this week and this week and this week.

And at the end you get the big, you [00:18:00] know, and it might not be fun. It might be hard sometimes. Sometimes it is fun, but the whole journey is really rainy five Ks where they've just Yeah. I thought those would be fun. Splash and puddles. Yeah. It'd be wonderful, right? Oh my gosh. And we have such tremendous support at our 5Ks.

Yeah. I mean, families show up and cheer them on. There's running buddies, is that right? Yeah. Can you tell us Yeah, I was just thinking about that. So, each girl, um, brings a family friend, a family member, someone who runs along with them. It's someone to support them. It's also a safety issue. So they have someone on there.

Because it's a big event, right? And that, that is a running buddy. So there, so it's a, you know, how many, how many girls did we have this fall? had 1, 352 girls. Oh, my gosh. That is crazy. Is the run all the same spot or like, are they all have their own or we have two seasons. We have a fall and a spring. So in the fall we combine, um, all the teams at one five K and we do it at Dell tech here in Dover.

Oh, [00:19:00] cool. Yep. And then in the spring, which is a somewhat larger season, we divide up Kenton Sussex teams down at Dell tech in Georgetown. And then we do a Newcastle County. Race for the Newcastle County teams. Oh, cool. But yeah, it's, are you guys both runners? Yes. I ran a couple miles this morning. Yeah. You guys both like, have you, is that part of it too?

Like you guys both really enjoy, you know, this part of your activities that you guys do personally? For me, I, I've been, uh, I re I relate to the running as just, it's something I discovered at a young age. I'd never did it. You know, competitively. It's just something I do personally. Um, um, so yeah, I kind of understand what girls on the run, some of the messages we send to the girls about running.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I, what, what, um, It was a runner, um, for, for a good period of my adult life. I always played sports growing up, but I never running was not one of my things. And, and then it just was a super efficient way to get a good workout when I had little children and I was fortunate enough to have a [00:20:00] great neighborhood and, um, of women that ran.

And so we'd meet at 5 30 in the morning on the corner. Oh my gosh. Do our run before you get, before you get back to get the kids out. But really that, that time on the pavement was so peaceful for me. And, and it's such a, I had such great, um, relationships and friendships that were built on the pavement.

And, and, and so it's just, I love it. It's a, So it's just a peaceful time for me. See, I run by myself in the morning and then I just kind of like sort everything out. Yeah. I come from a different place. It's funny. And I can go, I can go out and that is a hornet about something. And then you get up there and you just, it just is a calming thing for you.

But I have some back issues so I can't run anymore. But by Peloton. Peloton. Still got the competitive drive. All right. Right. Number three. Yeah. I'm a Peloton. I do think. Threes are always trying to do a competition. One of our closest friends is a three and she's always like, let's do this. Now let's do this.

Okay. Yeah. Last year she was like, Hey, let's just sign up for a marathon out of nowhere. [00:21:00] We haven't even ran in forever. You just want to sign up for a marathon all of a sudden. Yeah. We said no to that. I mean, do you guys do races though? Or you just run for just yourselves. No, I just do it for just for my mental sanity.

Yeah. Well, it's a good tool in life. It's like, yeah, it's like you said, getting out in the pavement and having things just disappear is how many kids are like discovering that they actually like running. For me, it's more of like a meditation. Yeah. I've heard other people who like running say that. No, I hate every, I only like it afterwards, afterwards I'm like, yeah, it was good.

That was great. But like in the moment, no, I've never looked at one thing that I want to make sure I share with you guys is, um, you know, we are so, um, Um, lucky that we have so many tremendous supporters here in Delaware. And so there is a fee for the girls on the run program. And we do that fee on a sliding scale based on family income so that every girl that wants to participate can participate regardless of their financial situation.

So we have a, um, a tiered rate. And so, um, [00:22:00] probably over 60 percent of our girls each season receive some sort of financial assistance from us in order to participate. So we've never, never not had a girl. Be able to participate. Oh, that's really great. She wasn't able to afford the registration fee. And we are, we are provide running shoes in situations where we need to provide running shoes and, and or, or jog bras or running clothes.

And so we are, we're really committed to making sure that we serve every girl in the state of Delaware that wants to, wants to participate. And, and we can only do that with the benefit of, of, you know, we have great individual donors, we have corporate sponsors and we have received grant funding, um, from different grants.

Oh, that's great. How do people, there are people listening and they want to. Donate or help support like what does that look like for them if they go to, um, our website, which is G O T R D E dot org. They could get information about getting involved. If you wanted to get involved, if you want to see where we're, where we're located, if they wanted to donate, if they were just getting in touch with us, that we're getting in touch with questions.

Perfect. Yeah. Cause I'm sure there's people who are listening. I was like, Oh, that's great. Cause we do have a big running community in [00:23:00] Delaware. There is. Are they involved at all in this? Well, you know, Mary Beth Evans is on our board. She went, she owns with running. She does. But yeah, so, so, we, we have a lot of time.

One, we need a ton of volunteers at our races. And so we've kind of tapped into some of the running communities to come out and help us with a, I shouldn't say races for their five case celebrations. It's really not a competitive race. So there's no, so if you get like first prize, it's just a big celebration.

It's It's so much fun. If you all want to come out, you would love it. Um, we have a DJ and the girls are dancing and, um, they congregate with their teams, you know, and, and, and they, you know, some of the, they kind of sometimes dress up as teams with their, they all have the same shirt and the same number one.

But I mean, it's a celebration, like, like Kim said, it just has all these years has never gotten old for us. There's, I mean, I get emotional. I mean it. Truly is a moment for those girls. And yeah, should you guys see yourself doing this for [00:24:00] forever? As long as they'll allow you to exactly. Well, you know, you know, one of the, one of the kind of random perks of this, of this job is I feel like I've been so blessed because, you know, I so believe in our mission and, and, and I've met some incredible people.

People across the state of Delaware who also are so like minded in the importance of what we're doing. And so I've met some tremendous people that I wouldn't have known otherwise who are truly believe and committed to, you know, making, making Delaware a healthier, more wonderful place for, for our, for our girls.

And it's been a real privilege, um, to be able to be in this role. Um, for so many years, so I know every now and then I think, God, am I getting long in the tooth? It's been like, how many years? Yeah. But I'm still so passionate. We talked about it. This is just for both of us. Such a labor of love. Yes. Program.

Yeah. It truly is. We're, we're lucky. Is this full time for both of you? Part time. Part time for you. [00:25:00] It's, it's, it's full time, but it's, we're, we're flexible, you know, we work super hard during the season and then the month of December we can kind of 5k. That's vacation time. Kind of crank it back up for January for the spring season and then we kind of wrap up in June and have a, we'll enjoy a little bit of summer and then we'll crank up in August for the.

So you have like a cycle. So we're cyclical. Yeah. Cause you said it's kind of two seasons. You got the spring and the fall. Yeah. Yeah. So. When do they start? Did they miss the fall one? Because it's kind of the end of the school year. Can you explain a little bit what that looks like? We're just working on our season dates for, um, for our upcoming season.

So right now we're in the process of, say a school wants to have a program. We have a site application that they fill out just to let us know the school who's interested. And even if they don't even know who their coaches are going to be, they put in a site application. Um, and we're Collecting now in the process, we'll do that all summer, collect site applications and then the registration for the girls to sign up for the program won't probably open until the end of August.

Um, and so we'll get our site set up and then [00:26:00] we'll open registration for the girls and then we will actually start the season, um, the week of September 30th and the school, I mean, it's totally up to the, to it. Like say for example, w w Riley Brown wants to have a team if they want to do Tuesday, Thursday, great.

If they want to do Monday, Wednesday, great. They can set their own schedule. Yep, it's up to their discretion to, and then we'll train all their train. All the coaches, we provide them with all the supplies they need. Um, we give them the curriculums that they need. So really the volunteers themselves just need to come to training.

So they understand the philosophy of the program and how we deliver the curriculum. Um, and then we really pretty much provide. Provide the rest for them. And do you guys do the trainings yourselves? Oh, cool. Do you have a team, like a bigger team with you? Or we have a small, very small, small and mighty.

Yeah, that's great. In Newcastle, who had candles, Newcastle County teams, and then somebody who helps us with a 5k seasonally and a gal that helps us with some development and the website. Wow. Oh, that's great. So you guys are really doing a lot. With such a small [00:27:00] team, small but mighty team, very efficient.

I like that. We work well together. We do. Yeah. I mean, I feel like you have to. The smaller team, I feel like the more you have, it's much harder in a smaller team to work efficiently or find or add somebody in. I think they're efficient. Yeah. I would say personalities just matter more. Yeah. That's what you're saying there.

Big companies, it's easy to kind of fall into. And you guys should do the Enneagrams. I know. Look at companies. I did. You should. Look at the boss right here. The boss is going to make it happen. I feel like, well, because how cool would that be? Especially if you guys already like vibe so well, but like just understanding even more.

Yeah. That'd be awesome. You have to let me know. Let me know what you guys are because I just like, Oh, I know you are, but like what your team is. I'm just always so curious on how teams like interact to follow that. So I have a random question. You've been doing this for, since about 2005 ish, 19 years. So 19 years.

Have you had anybody who has done the program come back and say, Oh my gosh, this has changed my life. I remember these things, this lessons and yeah, participants come back as coaches. Yeah. Cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, we have, [00:28:00] we had a coach, um, we have a Lulu Ross participant who came back as a coach, which I thought was really amazing and that's happened more than we've had more than one time.

We've had, we've had girls that have, have done it in grade school and have come back as coaches. That's so cool. Yeah. Yeah. And we did have a girl who actually ran in college. I think she was, she ran at Georgetown and she was, um, real shy and, um, you know, But super fast, super fast. And she was kind of, I think, almost embarrassed about how fast she was.

And we, they, the coach used to call her Haley's Comet. And then she ended up writing part of her college essay on the experience and the confidence that Girls on the Run had given her to be comfortable in her own sneakers and excel at what she was, what she was doing. So, yeah. That is also an interesting, like, topic to look at is like, it's also You know, when you're really good at things, it sets you apart and like having that confidence to say, I'm okay being different.

Yeah. So that's really great that this is like fostering that. Yeah. Yeah. Is there, um, some more [00:29:00] information you would want the people to know that maybe people don't know yet? Like some, I know, I think people who participate, they get the big picture, but is there anything people don't realize about your, um, I don't know.

Is there anything you feel like we haven't touched on? No, you guys have. You guys have touched on a lot. You guys are doing great. Sometimes people are like, Oh, I wish people knew this about us or, um, there's unexpected like side projects people have. And if not, you can say no. That's okay too. The one other thing that, that you can either put this in or not put this in.

But I do think it's, um, really important for people to understand that, you know, where it's, it's, it goes on and truly is an inclusive environment. And while it's a girl's program. Um, we would, we are welcoming and embracing anyone that identifies as a girl. So if there's a student that, that, that biologically might not be a girl, but identifies as a girl, then we are going to embrace them in our, in our programming.

So we're, and, and, and same thing with disabilities, running looks different for everybody. And so we've had girls in wheelchairs that have participated in the program. We've had, we had girls with, [00:30:00] um, down syndrome that have participated in the program. So we are able to modify the curriculum to make it.

Accessible and inclusive for anybody who wants to participate. That's so amazing. And then the ones who run the program to the, at the schools, male, female coaches, it doesn't really matter on that one. Perfect. Yeah. Well, that's amazing. I love what you guys are doing for our communities and bringing all of this out.

Cause it really has. Cause I graduated. Yeah. In 2005, right? So it wasn't like when I was in school, but it's amazing to see how many people we've known that have participated, whether it's coaches or yeah, it's just amazing people. And they all love it. Like everybody's like, this is such so much fun. We really enjoy it.

And then the people who have had kids participate, they've been like, my child had so much fun and they just felt so joyous on that day. We have a lot of patients who have kids have done it and then patients who are kids who have done it too. But now I didn't realize that there's only third grade.

Fourth and fifth grade, because I always think, well, why aren't you doing it again next year? Probably because we would love to see our middle school program. What's [00:31:00] the future look like for you guys? So, and, and I am seeing a little bit, um, we have, like, for example, um, in Seaford, we have a couple of schools that have a lot of participation in the elementary schools.

And then recently the past couple of seasons, we've had a program at the middle school there that has been really So I think that there is some potential for growth in our middle schools. So it's sort of like a feeder into that middle school. Yeah. That second program is with girls on the run or is it your own separate thing?

No, it's a girls on the run. It's called heart and soul. Heart and soul. Okay. It's more middle school geared, you know. Yeah. The design of the curriculum is very similar in the way you do the lessons, but the topics are, are more appropriate for, for girls in six, seven, where they're at. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome.

That's awesome. Yeah. I feel like a. I know, I'm sure one of your goals is to get into every elementary school there is in the state of Delaware. That would be great, and really the only thing that holds us back is volunteers. And a lot of times we do it in some schools, and we, we, we cap our teams because so much of the, [00:32:00] the, the school staff is in the middle, Um, learning comes from the dialogue between the girls and with the coaches and the conversations.

And so really to have meaningful, um, opportunities for that, we, we limit 15 girls to a team if we have two trained coaches at every practice, or if you have three trained coaches at every practice, we can have 20 girls on a team. But there are plenty of situations where we have. You know, 20 girls on a waiting list because we don't have enough because I didn't realize that.

Right. Right. They have three teams this spring. So, so if we have enough volunteers, we can offer as many programs that we demand is there. We just don't have the volunteers. And sometimes like there, if there's a school that has more demand, we've had a couple of parents that have stepped up and they've gone through the training and, and, and have stepped up as coaches so we could have a couple of more.

girls. We love to accommodate as many as we can. For those who are listening, that may be parents, not teachers, but want to help. Can you explain what that, what that looks like? That may be the commitment level for them. Yeah. And you don't have to be a runner. I feel like all these people, all these coaches think, I don't run, I don't run.

Can I coach? I'm like, yes. [00:33:00] Can you, can you be positive? Can you be a cheerleader? You know, can you, so, um, so um, So I would say, um, the commitment. It's a 10 week season. Um, we meet twice a week after school for an hour and 15 minutes. So it's that that time commitment. And then really just reading the curriculum and understanding, you know, ahead of time.

So you're taking a little bit of time before and then we do do we have an in person, um, two hour, three hour training session where they where we actually do the lesson. And then we have some online training background check. Yeah. But yeah, so I, I think that sometimes not being a runner might be a barrier.

People like think in their head, like I don't run, this is a great program. So I think that's a great thing for everyone to know is if you want to help, you do not have to be a runner. No. So they can just teach it because each person is going to help provide their buddy system. Are there any people who don't have a buddy person?

Yeah. How does that work? Do they need to volunteer? Like, how's that work? Um, well, sometimes like teachers will step up as running buddies or there might be one running buddy that runs with two girls [00:34:00] if necessary. Yeah. Okay. That's good. So there's, there's enough running buddies out there. Yes. Yes. Yeah.

When you want to be a running buddy, come on. Yeah, you should do it. You're a runner. Yeah. Do you like running? Yeah. What do what? Do you have a distance that you like or, yeah. My favorite, which I'm not trained for right now, is a 10 K. A 10 K. I do like that 6.2. You do fine with a 5K? Yeah. I can run a 5K right now.

Yeah. Maybe not super fast, but I can, yeah. You're supposed to do em tomorrow, but he got hurt. Yeah. Yeah. I have chronic feet injuries just in generally, and they're not, they're my own doing. I hurt myself working out, doing other things that I shouldn be doing. You'll say all what you did . Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's something, yeah. It's not like an ailment I have, it's just I just injure my feet a lot because I push myself more. I'm doing something silly. Yeah. Yes. But you should do that. You should be a runner. Yeah, I do like running. All right. It's fun. We'll get 'em involved. Yeah. Well, we'll figure it out.

Alright. We love it. Yeah, we would love to. Great. Alright. Perfect. Um, well is there anything else you wanna leave the listeners with? Um, no, but it's so good to be, I know y'all are so nice to have you guys are great. Well, we're, we're excited for this and bringing this to a [00:35:00] broader audience. Yeah. Why? We appreciate the opportunity to share our story and our programming.

Well, so many people might know the program, but they don't know you like exactly what your story is and what your roles are. So, yeah. And there's just so much passion behind it. Yeah. There's a lot of passion behind it. Well, thank you so much. Yeah. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. Thank you for listening to the three Oh two podcast.

I am your host, Dr. Frank Chi with my lovely wife and cohost, Dr. Megan Epps. We are your local nervous system based chiropractors who have a passion for contributing to our community and giving back as we have been so lucky to be blessed living here in Delaware. We've created this as a way to support our community through showcasing local small businesses and people who are making a difference in Delaware.

The best way for you to support those who have been featured and our local Delaware podcast is to follow, share, and like us over at Instagram. Our handle is at the 302 podcast. If you would like to be a guest or [00:36:00] sponsor, please visit our website at the302podcast. com. If you are interested in chiropractic care or reaching out to myself or Dr.

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