{"id":3834,"date":"2015-03-15T18:23:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-16T01:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=3834"},"modified":"2017-01-03T08:57:26","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T16:57:26","slug":"girltrek-goes-to-selma50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/fitness\/girltrek-goes-to-selma50","title":{"rendered":"GirlTrek Goes to #Selma50"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new generation is inspired to serve as health activists and stewards of neighborhoods and parks.<\/p>\n

Every day, thousands of women and girls in neighborhoods across the country lace up their sneakers and walk outside with an organization called GirlTrek<\/a>.\u00a0They walk to heal their bodies, inspire their families and to reclaim the streets of their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Exactly one week ago, in the basement of a historic Black church in Birmingham, Alabama, GirlTrek\u2019s national team stuffed 500 burlap bags.\u00a0The bags included clipboards, Rosie the Riveter buttons, packets of hot chocolate and many other reminders for the busloads of women and girls headed their way that building a grassroots movement takes organization, fortitude and self-care.<\/p>\n

In 24 hours flat, buses from Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans and St. Louis were completely booked.\u00a0Within days, there was not a seat left on the 10-city caravan to the epic celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery March.\u00a0In the end, 500 women and girls would stand on the front lines of history with GirlTrek.\u00a0They left the iconic Edmund Pettus Bridge energized to do the work of THIS generation\u2014to serve as healthy role models in their neighborhoods by creating the habit of walking and falling in love again with the natural environment.<\/p>\n

Black women are dying younger and at higher rates than any other group of women in the country from preventable diseases such as diabetes, stroke and heart disease.\u00a0Eighty percent of Black women are over a healthy body weight and fifty percent are morbidly obese.\u00a0We carry the weight of broken communities, ceaseless caregiving responsibilities and sensible indicators that systemic change is out of reach. \u00a0The root causes of our health condition is many-fold: Chronic stress, lack of healthy food options, unsafe streets and, frankly, diminished willpower\u2014willpower tarnished by the images and memories of resolute mothers and daughters being met by fire hoses.<\/p>\n

Charting a path forward is not easy.<\/h4>\n

When the First Lady of the United States, the National Park Service<\/a>, REI<\/a>, and leading health institution, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, supported this tiny nonprofit called GirlTrek, they never could have imagined its impact.\u00a0GirlTrek is an inspiring campaign with a daily call-to-action for those at greatest health risk to fight for their lives.<\/p>\n

GirlTrek has already inspired some 28,000 women to lace up their sneakers and get active.\u00a0It\u2019s a viable solution to the health crisis in America, a crisis that disproportionately lives and breathes in African-American homes and communities.<\/p>\n

If we can rally those in greatest need to stand up, like Selma we can inspire a nation to change.\u00a0Thousands of women and girls have signed on to do just that.\u00a0Together, we stand up as healthy role models in our families.\u00a0Together, we establish keystone habits of healthy living\u2014like getting sunshine everyday on brisk neighborhood walks.\u00a0Together, we serve as stewards of the natural environment by protecting urban green space and planting trees to make neighborhoods more walkable.<\/p>\n

GirlTrek supporter Cheryl Dorsey, president of Echoing Green, an organization that identifies the top 1% of social innovators in the world, gave a toast to the women of GirlTrek saying, \u201cIn the footsteps of a Civil Rights legacy, GirlTrek is re-establishing walking as a transformative tradition in Black communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

I doubt that even Cheryl could imagine what happened last week.<\/p>\n

We actually walked in those footsteps\u2026a brisk morning walk to the 16th Street Baptist Church where a bomb killed four little Black girls as they readied themselves for Sunday school.\u00a0The tragedy moved President John F. Kennedy to take action.\u00a0We walked to the historic Carver Theater, the only movie and concert house that allowed African-American patrons.\u00a0There on the marquee was the celebratory message, \u201cGirlTrek: Reclaiming our Streets!\u201d\u00a0And on the morning of Bloody Sunday, we rose at 5am to get a jumpstart on an epic tribute: We walked in the very footsteps of giants: Dr. King, James Bevel, Amelia Boynton\u2014the women and men who put feet to their prayers and walked for what they believed in.\u00a0It\u2019s what GirlTrek does everyday; we step out on faith that a culture of wellness and healthy traditions are not only possible, but within reach.<\/p>\n

While our grandmothers and grandfathers carried signs demanding freedom, voting rights and equality, our signs championed new traditions, healthy neighborhoods and self-care.<\/p>\n

This was\u2014by far\u2014the most historic Civil Rights celebration in the country, #Selma50.<\/p>\n

\"GirlTrek\"<\/p>\n

And we were there.<\/p>\n

\"GirlTrek\"<\/p>\n

We left, more determined than ever to live our healthiest, most-fulfilled lives.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: Bree Gant and T. Morgan Dixon, (c) GirlTrek 2015<\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new generation is inspired to serve as health activists and stewards of neighborhoods and parks. Every day, thousands of women and girls in neighborhoods across the country lace up their sneakers and walk outside with an organization called GirlTrek.\u00a0They walk to heal their bodies, inspire their families and to reclaim the streets of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[32,322,115,138,273,651],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-3834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-morgan-dixon","tag-nonprofit","tag-united-states","tag-washington-dc","tag-women"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/fitness\/girltrek-goes-to-selma50","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"GirlTrek Goes to #Selma50","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/fitness\/girltrek-goes-to-selma50","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/fitness\/girltrek-goes-to-selma50"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/03\/15094351629-50f1df11c5-o-e1448307232114.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/03\/15094351629-50f1df11c5-o-e1448307232114.jpg?fit=1500%2C994"},"articleSection":"Fitness","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Angela Crampton"}],"creator":["Angela Crampton"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["fitness","morgan dixon","nonprofits","united states","washington dc","women"],"dateCreated":"2015-03-16T01:23:45Z","datePublished":"2015-03-16T01:23:45Z","dateModified":"2017-01-03T16:57:26Z"},"rendered":"