This spring, despite creaky joints, a bum knee and an affinity for chocolate, I am going to drag my bones through the Covered Bridges Half Marathon to raise money for The Family Place, a Parent Child Center that serves the Upper Valley region in Vermont. Why?

This is an incredible organization that supports families so that families can in turn support their children. It is what communities look like at their best; people from all walks of life come together to wrap our youngest Vermonters and the parents who love them in all the support they need. 

If you know me, you know I care about making sure all Vermonters have a chance at a good life. However, some families who love their children struggle to thrive in the face of adversity and challenge. We all hurt as a community when the most vulnerable amongst us don't have a change to grow up healthy and strong.

Please consider: in a study that used neuroimaging to examine brain architecture, Elizabeth Sowell (the Director of the Developmental Cognitive Neuroimaging Lab at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles) found that “the surface area of the brain of a child whose family makes less than $25,000 is about 6% smaller in surface area than the brain of a child whose family makes $150,000 per year." She also found that the difference was most dramatic for children at the lowest socioeconomic level. Wealthier children also performed better on tests of executive functioning, including tasks that involved reasoning, problem solving, planning and execution, all of which areessential to successful learning in school. Sowell’s study controlled for genetic factors—there is nothing wrong with the genes with which children in poverty are born. They, too, came into the world full of hope and promise. The study hypothesized that differences in brain surface area and function were a function of environmental factors such a nutrition, access to health care, access to clean and safe areas to play, air quality and rich learning environments. We lose that promise because some kids don’t have food, safety, health care and well-resourced places to play and learn.

Children should not suffer because they are systematically denied opportunities to develop and grow the basic neural structures they need to thrive. This failure is what the Family Place’s portfolio of programs addresses through quality child care, a Safe Babies program for parents in recovery, parent education, job training, and more.

I am running the half marathon to honor and support the families and the entrepreneurial and inspiring staff at The Family Place. Thank you for your contributions.

We are a team of runners supporting The Family Place in its 33rd year of providing education, support and services to Upper Valley children and families.

Our team members have committed to raising at least $500 each by running in the Covered Bridges Half Marathon on Sunday, June 3, 2019. Money from fundraisers like the Covered Bridges Half Marathon is vital to The Family Place because it isn't earmarked for any specific program; instead it can be applied to wherever the need is greatest. It's only with the support of our generous community that we can provide continuous, comprehensive services to every family!

If you have any questions, please contact Hali Issente at halii@the-family-place.org