GILROY—This year’s Leadership Gilroy class was tasked with creating an event that not only benefitted the community but involved it, too. The 2015 group took the challenge one step further and tackled a growing problem in Gilroy: domestic violence and human trafficking.
Leadership Gilroy, in conjunction with Gilroy-based nonprofit Community Solutions, will host its Have A Sole 5K Fun Run to benefit the victims of domestic violence and human trafficking at at 8 a.m. Saturday at Gilroy Gardens. The concept spawned from the fact South County traditionally has the “highest per-capita rate of domestic violence” in all of Santa Clara County, according to Community Solutions Communications Manager Keri Gardner.
“(The victims) remind me of people coming out of a fire…They’re coming with the clothes on their back and the shoes on their feet and sometimes you don’t even have that when you’re running for your life. Only they’re running from people and they need to be protected,” said Leadership Gilroy member Michele Campbell.
Leadership Gilroy began organizing the event in February. Through working with Community Solutions, Campbell said her group was stunned to hear of South County’s domestic violence epidemic and quickly decided it needed to help.
Community Solutions provided domestic violence services—shelter, 24-hour crisis line and counseling, just to name a few—to 1,025 people in 2014, according to Gardner. She said help from groups like Leadership Gilroy is critical in keeping their services running.
“We traditionally receive less government funding or outside funding for these (domestic violence) programs,” Gardner said. “…We want to be able to serve (the victims) and give them not just a safe place that they can stay, but also helping them restart their lives.”
Funds raised from Saturday’s event will benefit Community Solutions and its efforts to provide new shoes and socks to victims of domestic violence. Leadership Gilroy is hoping to raise enough money to stock the closet at the safe house for the next two years. While shoes and socks may seem like a small contribution, Gardner said they have a huge impact.
“Shoes and socks are somewhat symbolic in that it’s giving them first step forward,” she said. “It’s a new life that’s safe, so it’s really phenomenal that Leadership Gilroy chose our organization and foundation to give their support.”
In addition to the Fun Run, the group has also placed collection bins in businesses around Gilroy. It’s hoping to collect new shoes and socks for women, kids, toddlers and infants and the response has been overwhelming.
“I have tons of pairs of shoes and we still have a bunch to pick up,” Campbell said.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing.
The group, which started the class in January, had to generate its own funding for the project and did so through corporate sponsorships. It then turned to social media to get the word out in an effort to give as much money as possible to the nonprofit. Along the way, the members learned a little about each other, too.
“(Social media has been) a huge help with this and all the different experiences of all the 16 people has been very interesting; all of our strengths have come out,” Campbell said. “Someone is strong at something. Playing on the strengths of each person in the group has been huge.”
Check-in for the 5K begins at 7 a.m. Saturday. Registration is still available and can be done online at bit.ly/have-a-sole. The run costs $30 for adults—12 years and older—and $15 for children.
