Upward of 300 people came to Hubbard Park to run, walk, support, and volunteer at a 5K hosted by the University of Iowa organizations: Women in Business, or WIB, Women in Health, or WIH, and the Society of Women Engineers, or SWE.
The park, filled with catering by Everbowl and Traveling Tom’s Coffee, raised more than $6,000 for Women in Business on March 29. All proceeds will be donated to the Iowa Women’s Foundation.
A portion of the profits made by SWE will be donated to the SWE’s Financial Need Scholarship Fund, and the remainder will support the SWEekend Club benefit. Forty percent of the funds raised by Women in Health will be donated to the Emma Goldman Clinic, while the remaining 60 percent will go to Women in Healthcare to further their mission to support women in the healthcare field.
Kaitlyn Hooker, WIB vice president of events, hosted the last 5K and loved the impact she saw from it. She wanted to collaborate with SWE and WIH to further the impact.
“We know that women aren’t represented as much as we’d like to see. Our clubs are super important for the three majors that are male dominated,” Hooker said.
Hooker added that in the fall semester, WIB donates proceeds to the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, and in the spring semester they always work with the Iowa Women’s Foundation.
Emerson Drake, WIB VP of Marketing, believes hosting a 5K helps build community and is inclusive to everyone.
“The last one was really successful, so she wanted to do another one. It just brings people together,” Drake said. “We partnered with SWE and WIH this time, too, to make it even bigger.”
Rylie McDermott, a fourth-year student in WIB, decided to run to support the good cause.
“[We] always want to lift women up and help them when we can, so being able to do a 5K helping our student organization, and also other organizations, is just like a good way to make a presence on campus and spread awareness,” McDermott said.
Elizabeth Barnes, a member of SWE, has grown up doing 5K fun runs with her family and came out to the event today to support the organizations.
“[This is] a fun excuse to run with my family and friends,” she added.