Running for mind and body, Turkey Trot funds support La Grande SoleKIDS
By Garrett Christensen on Friday, January 10th, 2025 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
UNION COUNTY – Exercise isn’t always about keeping the body in shape (though that is a massive part of it), but also the mind. For kids especially, staying active and having a fitness goal, even a simple one, can be a massive boon to mental health as much as physical. Thankfully, two local organizations, Mountain Valley Fitness and Health and La Grande SoleKIDS, are doing what they can to help Union County youth stay physically active and mentally healthy.
Following the success of Mountain Valley’s 2024 5k Turkey Trot, which included 163 participants of various ages, $2,400 dollars were recently donated to SoleKIDS La Grande. The funds will be used to help SoleKIDS maintain their own annual 5k run for local youth and keep the program accessible to all. As explained by Katie Merrick, area director for SoleKIDS and head coach for the Island City Elementary group (pictured below receiving the check from Mountain Valley’s Austin Gerding):
“In order to keep the program affordable for the children of La Grande, our registration fees are less than the cost of the program to run. So, registration costs forty-five dollars.”
For those unfamiliar with the program, SoleKIDS is an eight week after school running program for elementary students which culminates each season in a 5k race. Practices include lessons, games, and plenty of running meant to get the kids ready for the big race. SoleKIDS was founded in 2017 in Boise by Jonathan and Jamie Stevens and quickly spread across the Treasure Valley area of Idaho and, more recently, into Oregon and Washington.
SoleKIDS La Grande began in 2022 when Katie and others in the community sought to get a youth running program organized locally. Already somewhat familiar with SoleKIDS from her nephews participating in Boise, she reached out to the Stevens to pitch the idea. In her own words:
“Jonathan and Jamie not only said yes, but were super excited to help us get off the ground and supported us at every turn. They still do support us from the admin side and running the nonprofit, all those details that I don’t have to worry about. Since I was the one who reached out to Jonathan, I ended up being the first point of contact with the Boise SoleKIDs, and my role just snowballed from there.”
Ashley Close, another local woman instrumental in the initial outreach to SoleKIDS, also remains heavily involved in SoleKIDS La Grande. Currently, the program is offered to grade school students at Central Elementary School, Island City Elementary School, Greenwood Elementary School, and, most recently, Imbler Elementary School. Though offered in partnership with the school districts, SoleKIDS is managed independently and is entirely volunteer run. New schools are, generally, brought on when sufficient interest and volunteers are available. As explained by Katie:
“We’ve learned from experience that the largest group we can safely run with is 50 kids. So that size of group requires a minimum of 10 adults at every practice. If there are communities in the Grand Ronde Valley that are interested in the program, like Imbler was this fall, and there’s a willing coach and sufficient adult participation, we’ll do everything we can to make it possible for them to offer SoleKIDS to their kids.”
That said, SoleKIDS participation is not restricted to individual districts, though it is organized around them. Kids from different schools or even homeschool programs are more than welcome to register so long as they can make it to practice at one of the participating schools.
SoleKIDS most recent 5k race was on October 19, 2024, and included 133 eager runners and nearly 60 volunteers. The race itself is quite the operation. Each kid is paired with a buddy runner that races with them, while family members congregate at the starting point to cheer them all on. A professional photographer and DJ are brought in, and volunteers are placed at every corner of the course to guide kids in the right direction as well as encourage them during them run. “Race day is the best day,” as Katie put it.
As for how the partnership with Mountain Valley started, according to Katie, her parents were patients of Rachael Dillavou in 2022, a physical therapist who worked at Mountain Valley at the time and was the then coordinator for the Turkey Trot. Katie’s parents excitedly passed on the news of SoleKIDS imminent expansion into La Grande, and a partnership quickly formed between the two programs. Since 2022, Mountain Valley and their Turkey Trot have continued to provide support for La Grande soleKIDS.
It’s this support that has allowed the program to continuously provide various goodies and perks for the kids. Every participant receives a water bottle, swag bag, Sport Tech t-shirt, and healthy snacks during each practice. During the 5K, kids also receive finishers medals, and the top finishers receive trophies. Support from organizations like Mountain Valley is crucial to helping the race remain fun and keeping the entry costs at accessible levels.
Perks aside, however, SoleKIDS is ultimately about the kids, helping them stay active, and letting them earn a sense of accomplishment. Whether participating kids are born athletes or have never run a race in their life, SoleKIDS offers them a unique opportunity to do something fun, healthy, and rewarding. As reflected by Katie when discussing the joys of race day:
“It is incredibly rewarding to watch these kids run the race and cross the finish line. For some of these kids, running comes naturally to them. For those kids, we get to celebrate their incredible race time. But for most of the other kids, running is hard, and it takes everything they have to finish the race. And so watching those kids finish and knowing how hard they have worked over the eight weeks leading up to that is absolutely the best part of the season.”
For anyone interested in getting involved in SoleKIDS La Grande, their website offers links for volunteering and donations along with contact information for expanding the program to a new school. Katie Merrick can also be contacted at katie@solekids.org to discuss donation for the program or bringing SoleKIDS to a different school in Union County.
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(SoleKids 5k photo taken by Jessica Baum of Baum Studios. Used with permission)
