Safe Haven 5K fundraiser set

The First Safe Haven 5K Donut Dash Walk/Run Fundraiser will be on Saturday, October 14 at 8 a.m. starting at 509 Broadway Street. The theme is Do-Not Stay Silent About Domestic Violence and Hot Springs County will be “Scaring Domestic Violence Out of Town”. Registration is $30. Come dressed as your scariest creations, prizes will be awarded for most realistic, most creative and scariest costume. The post race event will include donuts, hot cocoa and activities. 

Sarah Slagle and Amber Cox are taking the helm to organize the event. Slagle said, “October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The main reason is that Safe Haven is a grant-funded program, so it needs fundraising to sustain itself. And our funding is very limited as far as what we can provide. We only have maybe $1,100 dollars a year allocated to direct services, which is putting people in hotels and putting fuel in vehicles. That’s not very much money. I mean, one hotel is $100. That would be, what, ten clients a year.”

Slagle added, “Money raised from the fundraiser will help pay for stuff like that. Pays for things like toiletries, pays for things like gas cards, food cards, and things like that. We have to be self-sustaining in order to be able to be compliant with the grant. So we have to do fundraisers. The idea was, instead of doing a bunch of little fundraisers, let’s do one big one and have something that’s annual, in October. We’re also going to do some awareness, preventative stuff. We’ll have vendors and do some activities.”

Statistics show, 33.9% of women in Wyoming and 30.5% of men in Wyoming experience intimate partner physical violence, intimate partner sexual violence, and/or intimate partner stalking in their lifetimes.

The 5K Walk/Run will start at the Broadway Bakery location near the town’s square to the Hot Springs State Park, the buffalo pasture and back. 

There will be first place prizes for the women’s run, men’s run and kids run, as well as walk awards. There will also be first, second, and third places for the costume contest. The costume categories will be kids’ ages 0 to 18 and adults 19 years old and up. 

After the race, donuts and hot cocoa will be available, sponsored by the Broadway Bakery. The activities will all be geared toward domestic violence prevention, which includes shirts that will be decorated, a deputy will teach some self-defense, and other activities. Those who register will get a loot bag full of fun items.

To register for the event visit: https://www.eventcreate.com/e/safehavendonutdash.