LJCC hosting Friendship Circle of Alabama Color Run

On March 19, friends and family are invited to the Levite Jewish Community Center to celebrate friendship and inclusion  with the Friendship Circle of Alabama’s inaugural Color4Friendship Color Run. 

The Friendship Circle of Alabama is a Jewish organization that helps children with special needs create lasting and fruitful friendships. The children spend time with teenage volunteers, who help the children build valuable friendships through their hours of fun spent together, said Rivky Novak, program director of Friendship Circle of Alabama.

“A lot of them [the children] are missing those social skills to build friendships,” she said. “So many of these friendships are so sweet.”

Novack said the Friendship Circle of Alabama previously held a marathon to raise money for the organization but found not many people were able to participate in the event, so they created the 1-mile Color4Friendship run. The run is on the LJCC track, which means all abilities and ages can join in the fun, and the proceeds go toward the Friendship Circle of Alabama and the Community Youth Group at the LJCC.

“It’s all about inclusion and friendships and stuff like that,” Novack said. “By doing this, everybody is able to join, and everybody is able to be a part of it.”

Participants are encouraged to wear as much white as possible to show off the colors that will be thrown their way during the run, she said, and all are welcome to stay after for a festival with music and food.

“No matter what, it’s going to be so much fun for everybody that’s there,” she said.

The Circle4Friendship Color Run starts at 1 p.m., and participants can register online at color4friendship.com.