Girls on the Run of UPMC Magee Partners with Rite Aid Foundation
By: Amy Charley
As the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates community-level health challenges, especially for underserved and vulnerable populations, The Rite Aid Foundation is partnering with Girls on the Run International to support the health and wellness of girls today and into the future.
As part of this commitment, Girls on the Run of UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital received a $15,000 grant from The Rite Aid Foundation to ensure continued programming during the pandemic and to enhance its efforts to serve diverse communities in the coming years.
“Girls on the Run of UPMC Magee is thrilled to receive funding from The Rite Aid Foundation, which allows our organization to provide transformational programming to more girls over the next year,” said Meredith Colaizzi, council director at Girls on the Run of UPMC Magee. “The Girls on the Run lessons build resilience, confidence, empathy and self-awareness through physical activity – all skills and abilities necessary to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Using an experience-based curriculum that creatively integrates running, Girls on the Run of UPMC Magee offers programming for third through eighth grade girls at more than 90 sites across southwestern Pennsylvania. Over 18,500 girls have participated over the chapter’s 21-year history.
“Now more than ever, during a generation-defining pandemic, the health and wellness of our communities stands at the forefront,” said Matthew DeCamara, executive director of The Rite Aid Foundation. “We’re humbled to support Girls on the Run as it adapts and develops new and innovative ways to impact the lives of girls. This organization embodies the Foundation’s commitment to impacting children’s lives by building self-esteem, independence and resilience, and letting all children know what it means to be a kid. Working together, we can emerge stronger from this crisis.”
For more information on how to register as a participant or volunteer with Girls on the Run, please visit www.gotrmagee.org.
