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April 24 - Serving the Tuesday Night Community Meal at the Reeb Avenue Center, 4:30pm to 7:30pm.
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August 11 - GVWC Passion Team for the African American Male Wellness Walk Initiative
For details of the community events or to participate,
please email gvwalkingclub@gmail.com
GVWC Volunteering Commitment - For 2018, the GVWC will donate one dollar to a charity for every GVWC volunteer-hour up to 200 hours. Please help us achieve our goal this year!
NEXT UP IN THE COMMUNITY
GIVING BACK. (Those are our backs.)
RECENT EVENTS
April 14, 2018 | Spring To Your Feet
What a great event on Saturday! The rain held off, the sun was out, and a terrific crowd attended the Spring to Your Feet walk. About 80 people attended, including members of the GVWC, the African American Male Wellness Walk Initiative, the Driving Park Walking Club, and Black Men Run. It was a wonderful way to start GVWC’s training program for the AAWalk on August 11, and a great opportunity to raise awareness of the health issues facing black men in our community. And, the shoe: the Columbus Running Company provided a sneak preview (or is that a “sneaker” preview) of the official AAWalk shoe—the adidas Super Nova—which comes out in May. Many folks pre-ordered the shoe in the official AAWalk colors of green and yellow after having tried the shoe out on our walk that morning.
December 20, 2017 | Holiday Lights Downtown Columbus Walk.
It was a beautiful night for a walk in downtown Columbus to see the holiday lights; a rare GVWC night time walk. Sixteen of us met at the downtown Winans. Our route took us through BiCentennial Park, along the Scioto Mile, east on Broad Street as we stopped at the Leveque Tower to see their beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby. From there it was east to the State Farm Christmas display, down and through the Topiary Park, and into the Columbus Main library to see the train display. Then we finished strong, west on Town Street through the beautiful lighting in Columbus Commons, and then to Winans for hot chocolate and wine!
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October 21, 2017 | Winans to Winans Community Walk For All People .
The Winans to Winans route was beautiful. The weather was nearly perfect. And the amount of winter clothes donated by our walkers to the For All People Free Store was, literally, a truckload! Kim Hairston, director of the free store, gave some inspiring pre-walk remarks. Kim and her team at the free store do great work in our community and we look forward to continuing our partnership. Afterwards walkers gathered at Winans’ downtown location for complimentary coffee and chocolates. Thanks to Second Sole for donating a $100 gift certificate. Special thanks to Monica and Miles, owners of Winans, for their fantastic hospitality. Not only did they provide a water-stop at the Winans GV, and then host us at the downtown location, they, too, provided gift certificates for the raffle. You guys are the best!
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August 12, 2017 | African American Male Wellness Walk Initiative (AAMWWI) 5K Walk. The GVWC had our 22-walker AAMWWI Passion Team fired up for the 5K walk and event. It was a beautiful morning, and a record estimated 20,000 people attended. It was the 14th year for the event, and it was GVWC's first year of involvement. In addition to our Passion Team, the GVWC had a vendor booth and was on the planning committee. It has been great this year starting our collaboration and partnership with the Initiative. The Founder of the Initiative, John Gregory, and Executive Director, Chad Anderson, see the GVWC as the community leader for walking in Central Ohio. We were the one vendor recognized at the Initiative's Reception Dinner, with a "Going the Extra Mile" award. The GVWC aligns well with the AAMWWI's message of moving more, knowing your numbers, and getting to the doctor. We even made the AAMWWI Facebook Page promotional video this year. Recognize any faces?
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May 23, 2017 | South Side Roots Cafe' - Tuesday Night Community Meal. A record 15 Club members served dinner for the South Side community at the Roots Cafe' in the beautifully renovated Reeb Avenue Center. This was our second community dinner. This is always a wonderful experience serving the meal, assisting diners in the Roots Cafe', and doing a little cleanup and dishwashing at the end of the evening. Thank you GVWC crew: Frank, Deb, Andrea, Priscilla, Jim, Nancy, Jeff, Karen, Tim, Jason, Emily, Michelle, David, Maureen, and Larry.
March 7, 2017 | South Side Roots Cafe' - Tuesday Night Community Meal. Eight Club members served dinner for the South Side community at the Roots Cafe' in the beautifully renovated Reeb Avenue Center. It was a wonderful experience serving the meal, assisting diners in the Roots Cafe', and doing a little cleanup and dishwashing at the end of the evening. Thank you Chef Eduardo for you guidance through the night. And, thanks to our GVWC crew: Andrea, Chris, Frank, Karin, Vicky, Nancy, Jim and Larry.
December 10, 2016 | GVWC Holiday Happy Hour and Happy Greek. Club members had a great time for the second GVWC Holiday Happy Hour hosted by Second Sole. We enjoyed an evening of good appetizers provided by Forno and Bakersfield, wine and beer by Second Sole, and raffles from Winans, Second Sole, Valters, and GT Environmental. The event was capped off with 30% discounts on everything in the store.
November 12, 2016 | Community Walk For All People - 4 Miler. It was a crisp and beautiful November morning as 60 walkers gathered for our community walk to promote our favorite things: good health, breast cancer awareness, charity, coffee and conversation. Thanks to everyone who donated an article of winter clothing to the For All People Free Store, which is located at Parsons and Whittier and serves our South Side community. You guys were so generous!
October 15, 2016 | GVWC Pastry Crawl. Darla, Deb, Mo, and Jim created the GVWC Pastry Crawl and gave us a "taste" of what that involved. The fearsome foodie foursome decided to "bear crawl" along 3rd Street from Katzinger's to Kitties to Pistacia Vera. Here is the pastry log.
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July 23 | Gahanna Get Moving Team Group Walk. Hot morning, but fun time walking with our friends at the Gahanna Get Moving Team. We found enough shade from Schiller Park through the Scioto Audubon Park. But, then it opened up along the Scioto Mile across the Broad Street and Main Street bridges. We had to avoid the booths at the Jazz and Rib Fest and also runners from the Color Run 5K race. The toughest part was making it through all the wonderful smells of barbeque ribs and chicken along the way. Thanks to our partners Second Sole Short North for providing snacks and water, and New Balance for providing shoes to test out for our walk. Founding partner, Winans, provided hot and iced coffee, plus their famous chocolate samples. And, thanks to Beth Watkins of GGMT for providing the Facebook collage of the event.
May 21 | Buckeye Striders Group Walk & Breakfast. The threat of rain may have reduced the number of walkers but didn't dampen the spirits of our walk with the Buckeye Striders. We showed off to our guests the Scioto Audubon and the cool bridges along the Scioto Mile. And, as we always do, we recapped our walk over coffee at Winans. After Winans, a group of 14 totally enjoyed a fabulous breakfast at Valter's at the Maennerchor. Chef Valter gave us a few inside tips on his cooking methods, particularly in those fantastic pancakes. We will be back soon. And often!
April 23 | Earth Day Celebration. The GVWC had a booth at Columbus Commons for the Earth Day Celebration sponsored by GreenColumbus.org. It was a great day to meet people, promote the Club, and listen to some good music. Oh, and drink beer! Here are some photos from the event.
April 16 | Columbus Earth Day. GVWC volunteers - Andrea, Deb, Vicky, Mo, David and Larry - were among 70 volunteers at Scioto Audubon helping to work the gardens, plant trees, and clear the insidious honeysuckle. The GVWC was on the dreaded honeysuckle chain gang. Great outing, and here are a few pictures.