Students of South Haven Elementary School were excited on January 8, 2016 – not only because they had a special visit from Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County, Aqua Indiana, and The City of Portage’s Mayor Snyder, but because their running club was being honored as the Little Igloo Youth Dash Mayor’s Challenge winners for a second year in a row.
On December 5, 2015 – Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County held its second annual 5K Arctic Dash race sponsored by Northwest Indiana Clean Air. As part of this race, Aqua Indiana sponsors a Little Igloo Youth Dash One Mile Fun Run for children and their parents. To encourage youth to participate in this healthy and fun activity, Mayor Snyder added a Mayor’s Challenge element to this fun run. As part of the Little Igloo Youth Dash, he encouraged a healthy competition between the Portage Township Elementary Schools encouraging students to run. The elementary school that had the most youth race participants not only earn a traveling trophy declaring that school the champion of the race, but the City of Portage provides a $500 grant to the school for their healthy lifestyles programming, matched by another $500 from Aqua Indiana.
“Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County believes in encouraging youth to be physically active at least 60 minutes a day, five days per week – whether that is playing outside, participating in sports, or engaging in fun family activities like the Little Igloo Youth Dash. We are proud to partner with Aqua Indiana who sponsors this youth fun run and Mayor Snyder who encourages all residents of Portage to get fit and stay active. We hope other communities this year will want to do something similar to what the City of Portage does for Portage Township Schools’ students,” states Ryan Smiley, president of Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County.
“On behalf of Aqua Indiana, we are happy to partner with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County, and Mayor Snyder of Portage, to inspire the youth in our community to participate in events that promote a healthy lifestyle. Hopefully the Little Igloo Youth Fun Run and the Mayor’s Cup competition will be around for a long time,” states Matt Lentz of Aqua Indiana.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County will host the 5k Arctic Dash and Little Igloo Youth Dash and One Mile Fun Run again on December 3, 2016. The race begins and ends at the Portage Club which is open to youth that day to have fun at the Club. Northwest Indiana Clean Air will again be the presenting sponsor of this event, and Calumet Regional Striders of Northwest Indiana named this as a Gold Cup race. For more information, contact Stephanie Hamilton at shamilton@bgcpoco.org.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County has been opening doors to GREAT FUTURES for Porter County’s youth since 1971. Clubs are open after school and provide a great place for youth in grades K-12 to meet friends and have fun while in a safe, supervised environment. When school is out, our Clubs are in! Clubs are open during holidays and in the summer. Annual membership is only $35.00. Financial assistance is available to those who qualify. For information on membership, volunteer opportunities, or to make a tax deductible donation to Boys & Girls Clubs of Porter County, please contact your local Club, call (219) 464-7282 or visit bgcpoco.org. Great Futures Start HERE.