On August 26th 2018, Filling in the Blanks will host the Unite to Fight 5K, which will be held at the idyllic Waveny Park in New Canaan, CT. The race will seek to build community and raise funds to help end childhood hunger in our local neighborhoods. Filling in the Blanks is a 501c3 nonprofit which fights childhood hunger by providing children in need with meals on the weekends.
In Fairfield County, more than 33,000 children are not sure where their next meal will come from. Most will get breakfast and lunch from school every weekday, but many will go from Friday lunch until Monday at breakfast without a decent meal. Filling in the Blanks is an organization that fills in those weekend gaps by providing each child in its program with a bag filled with healthy food for the weekend. When the obstacle of food insecurity is removed, children experience increased academic achievement in school and increase opportunities for success in their lives.
Founded in 2013 by two Fairfield County residents, Shawnee Knight and Tina Kramer, Filling in the Blanks is a 501c3 non-profit organization that has grown from serving 50 kids to serving more than 1,100 kids in Fairfield and Westchester counties.
The Unite to Fight event was inspired through the memory of Kristen Reynolds Ruth, a local kindergarten teacher, mother and friend, who passed in 2011 after a 7 year battle with cancer. The event was created and is directed by her daughter, an NCHS alumni, Britt Gardella.