Girls on The Run

https://balancech.com/blog

Schulyer and Amy are both longtime GOTR supporters. They have given us their time as volunteers, use their influence to increase awareness of our program, and kept in touch throughout the hardships of the pandemic. Amy owns a fitness studio here in Philadelphia, near our council’s office, and Schuy is one of her staff members. They approached our council in December 2020 with an idea for a fundraiser that they were willing to help plan and execute. Schuy had a friend who owns a yoga studio in Los Angeles and suggested that we use the connection to develop a fundraising event in partnership with the two fitness studios and GOTR Los Angeles. With their help, and the help of our peers in LA, we planned the very first Coast to Coast Relay! Our two councils agreed to a friendly competition in which we’d recruit team members to log the most miles and raise the most money in the month of February 2021. The goal was that each team would cumulatively log 2,697 miles – the distance between Philadelphia and Los Angeles – through any physical activity.

Schuy and Amy helped the GOTR staff outline the logistics and specifics of executing the event, then took on the responsibility of being event ambassadors and cheerleaders! Using their client base and respective community networks, they helped recruit participants and consistently promoted registration via their personal and professional social media accounts, and in emails to their clients. They also made use of an existing February challenge at their fitness studio, to increase the appeal of participating in the Coast to Coast event to their clients. 

The GOTR staff received joyful emails and texts almost daily with updates of milestones that Team Philly had hit. Whenever a big milestone, like 100 registrants, was near, the enthusiasm and optimism were palpable.  Before we knew it, we blew our goals out of the water!

By the end of the February event, Team Philly had 347 participants who logged a cumulative 24,000 miles and raised over $10,000! Team Los Angeles had similar success on their end of the relay. This would’ve simply not been possible without the dedication and enthusiasm of Schuy and Amy, and their passion for promoting the mission of Girls on the Run. The Philadelphia council owes all the success of the event, and the $10,000 raised for our scholarship fund, to Schuyler and Amy.