Last week’s program was provided by Rotarian Jeremy Gaffney.  Jeremy’s guest speaker was Laura Moore, Executive Director for Girls on the Run Greater Tampa Bay. Girls on the Run International was established in 1996 in Charlotte, North Carolina by Molly Barker. What started with thirteen girls in one school has grown to over 200 councils in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. With the help of almost 100,000 volunteers, Girls on the Run served nearly 180,000 girls in 2015, including our millionth girl! Girls on the Run continues to grow and currently hosts more than 350 end-of-season 5K events across the United States, making the Girls on the Run 5K series the largest in the country. Girls on the Run has also expanded to include middle school girls through Heart & Sole, a program dedicated to the unique needs of adolescent girls.  GOTR Greater Tampa Bay was established in 2008 as part of the nonprofit organization, Frameworks. The powerful program immediately took hold in our community and our first season included 12 brave girls at one site. Forty-five girls came the next season, then 129 girls during our third season. In 2013, GOTR joined the University of South Florida, completed an intensive Strategic Planning session and hired an Executive Director to oversee the program and its sustainable growth. As a result, program growth increased dramatically, GOTR founded a Community Advisory Board, and hosted their own 5k series and expanded to serve Sarasota County. In 2017, after the biggest and brightest year ever serving over 900 girls, they again spread their wings and left USF to become a 501(c)3 organization and a direct subsidiary of Girls on the Run International. GOTR Tampa territory includes Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Sarasota Counties. To date, Girls on the Run Greater Tampa Bay has served 4,445 girls across the community.  At Girls on the Run they inspire girls to recognize their inner strength and celebrate what makes them one of a kind.  Trained coaches lead small teams through research-based curricula which includes dynamic discussions, activities and running games.  Over the course of the ten-week program, girls in 3^rd -8^th grade develop essential skills to help them navigate their worlds and establish a lifetime appreciation for health and fitness.  The program culminates with girls positively impacting their communities through a service project and being physically and emotionally prepared to complete a celebratory 5K event.  Girls face social pressures and conflicting messages about how they should act and who they should be.  Studies show that by adolescence, girls’ confidence drops about twice as much as boys.  Friendships become more complicated and challenging, girls’ perception of their academic ability declines, the likelihood of anxiety and depression increases and participation in physical activity plummets.  GOTR believes that every girl is inherently full of power and potential.  By knowing they are the leaders of their lives, these are the girls who will change the world!  For more information or to volunteer, check out their website; www.gotrtampa.org.  - provided by Mike Arndt

Birthdays This Month

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Club Anniversaries This Month