Community Service Projects

The Bill & Amy Koman Award for Excellence in Community Service

Part of the Girls on the Run curriculum focuses on empowering young girls to share their strengths. It includes a discussion about the importance of using our unique gifts and talents to positively impact our community. Each team that participates in Girls on the Run lives out this discussion by planning and implementing a community service project. Each semester, the Bill & Amy Koman Award for Excellence in Community Service will be given to the teams that best demonstrates creativity, teamwork and shared commitment in planning and executing their community service project. This award is given in honor of Bill and Amy Koman whose tireless support of Girls on the Run and generosity throughout the St. Louis community exemplifies a true commitment to improving the lives of others.

Community Service Award Winners

Thank you to ALL of the schools that submitted their community service project ideas for consideration for the Koman Award for Excellence in Community Service!  We loved reading about the impact of the GOTR community service projects and we are honored to announce the winners.

The first place finishers are from Rose Acres Elementary in the Pattonville School District. Their project was to organize a Diaper Drive for the Nurses For Newborns organization. The girls collected items such as diapers, wipes, baby food/formula, pacifiers, and clothing to be distributed to families in need all across the St. Louis area. The girls broke into 5 committees: flyer distribution, collection box decorators, poster decorators, morning announcement writers/schedulers, and winning classroom party planners. Each committee worked independently and was responsible for accomplishing their assigned task. The winning classroom even won a special delivery of cookies by their school principal dressed in a baby costume. What a great sport!

The girls truly enjoyed the experience. In their own words:

“It feels good to give all this stuff to babies that really need it.”

“It felt good to do this because I knew that I was helping someone.”

“It was fun to be involved and help Nurses For Newborns.”

The team also received a very heartfelt letter from Nurses For Newborns. Great job Rose Acres!

The second place finishers are from Fairmount Elementary in the Francis Howell School District. Their project was to organize a book drive entitled “Caring and Sharing Our Love of Books & Reading.” All new and gently used books were donated to the Joplin schools that lost their libraries and books in the spring tornado. The team organized a book drive during the weeks of Scholastic Book sales and parent/teacher conferences to allow new books to be purchased and donated on-site, and to have parents help students to bring in gently used books to donate. The entire school was involved in the effort and they were able to donate more than 1,000 books! Way to go Fairmount!

The third place finishers are from Centralia Jr. High in Centralia, Illinois. Their project was to collect items for DASH (Domestic Animals Safe Haven) a local no-kill animal shelter. The girls divided into small groups to manage the project:  fact finding, poster making & flyer distribution, school announcements, and lunch hour item collection. They have been able to collect over 100 items for the shelter and the DASH organization is thrilled! Thanks for making such a great impact Centralia Jr. High!

An honorable mention goes to the team at Freeburg Elementary in Freeburg, IL. The girls from Freeburg decorated pillowcases and filled them with items to be donated to local foster children. They are going to be given to the children during the holiday season. From the words of the girls:

“I liked taking charge of something and helping kids.”

“I liked being able to personalize it and not being selfish.”

“I loved helping people in need.”

Way to go Freeburg Girls on the Run teams!

What a great group of projects and fabulous participants! We are so proud of the work of all of our teams this year! Thank you for giving so willingly of your time and talents. We truly are making a difference throughout the St. Louis community and throughout the world! Keep up the great work girls!!