POVERTY

By Susan Walker

For the past 10 years, Catholic Charities has hosted the Outpace Poverty 5K run as one of its two annual signature fundraising events. This year, the event will return to the Avila University campus and surrounding neighborhood on Saturday, Sept. 30. A family festival atmosphere, a beautiful route for runners and walkers and inspiration about the mission along the way are all continuing hallmarks of this event.

Runners and walkers participated in the in 2016 and 2017 OutPace Poverty 5K along the riverfront at Berkley Park in Kansas City.

To learn more, or to register, please visit www.outpacepoverty.org.

The event site has journeyed to several of Kansas City’s iconic neighborhoods and given participants a chance to experience both the beauty of the metro region and the inspiration of the Catholic Charities’ mission. Originally named “Walk for Change,” the event began with a “choose your distance” format at the downtown Kansas City airport. Walkers were encouraged to form teams and come out on a Saturday morning in groups to cover a route that would take them one, two or three miles around Wheeler Airport. The event moved to the grounds of the World War I Museum for its 2014 and 2015 races and its name changed to OutPace Poverty. 2016 saw the event move to being a timed 5k, held along the riverfront at Berkley Park, with a return to the same venue in 2017. Construction along the riverfront prompted a move to Loose Park in 2018, and then to Theis Park near the Country Club Plaza in 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic paused any in-person gathering for 2020, but participants still “went the (social) distance” that year, organizing their own families to walk together and submit times and photos to share with the wider group.

The event returned to an in-person experience at Theis Park in 2021. Last year, it found a home at Avila University and the south Kansas City neighborhood.

Showcasing urban parks, national monuments, geographic features like rivers and rose gardens as well as established suburban regions almost seems a metaphor for the wide range of needs and families served by the mission that the 5K event supports. Families living in poverty, individuals experiencing homelessness and parents struggling to raise their children without the financial resources to make ends meet are found throughout our 27-county service area. While rural poverty may “look” different from urban poverty, the results are the same: an inability to overcome barriers and have the basic necessities of life.

While there are lots of runs/walks throughout the year, the mission of Catholic Charities makes this the fall’s most meaningful 5K. Participants come from across the diocese, inspired to be part of this event. Participants are spurred on by the call in Psalm 119 asking God to guide our feet with the knowledge that we don’t “run the race” in vain because they are making a difference in the lives of those most in need.

During the time leading up to the OutPace Poverty race, and throughout the event, the mission To Serve and To

Lift is front and center. The compelling reasons to sign up as a participant, create a team and become a fundraiser are found in the stories of the men, women and children helped by Catholic Charities.

Before the event, we give team leaders and fundraisers information on the pounds of food, number of personal care items and amount of rent and utility assistance that families in need request and receive each month. Along the route, as participants run to achieve a personal best time or walk with family and friends, they see yard signs with statistics about hunger, eviction, mental health and homelessness. After the race, as participants linger around food and games, they also interact with Catholic Charities staff members who can share the life-changing stories of those helped by the funds raised by the race. Each year, we find that participants reach out soon after to spend volunteer time at one of our offices or pantries — building not just the financial means to assist at-risk neighbors but the all-important “human capital” that comes with a caring, compassionate person to assist in a crisis.

For one Saturday each year, outpacing poverty is truly a walk in the park.