Girls on the Run of Central NJ
908-642-4321
History of Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run® was established in 1996 by Molly Barker in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Girls on the Run® curricula, the heart of the program, provides pre-adolescent girls with the necessary tools to embrace their individual strengths as they enter middle and high school. The earliest version of the 24¬ lesson curriculum was piloted in 1996 with the help of thirteen brave girls. Twenty-six girls came the next season, then seventy-five. In 2000, Girls on the Run International, a 501c3 organization was born.
With the help of 30,000 volunteers, the Girls on the Run program is serving over 80,000 girls in over 170 cities across North America each year. In 2010, Girls on the Run hosted 120 end-of-season 5k events across the United States and Canada. Girls on the Run has been featured in many media outlets including People, Runner’s World, Redbook, Women’s Day, O Magazine, Fitness Magazine, Self Magazine, Glamour, Shape, Running Journal Order Form Forbes, Running Times, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, NBC News, NPR and ESPN.
Corporate sponsors for Girls on the Run International include New Balance, Secret deodorant, Goody hair products, Garmin, Horizon Fitness and Carolina Pad.
The true success of the program is told in the words of its past and present participants. “I used to be shy, but now I’m not anymore.” “I know that whatever I set my mind to do, I can do.” “At Girls on the Run I learned how to be comfortable in my own skin!”
That is success.
