Last weekend, women got down and dirty at the Mudderella Capital Region event at High Point Farms in Clarksburg, Maryland, to raise funds and awareness for domestic violence.
Mudderella is a noncompetitive 5- to 7-mile obstacle course teamwork challenge in the mud that empowers participants who have or know someone who has experienced violence. Futures Without Violence, a national nonprofit organization that strives to prevent and end violence against women and children by working with leaders in the community, partners in the event.
“We’re finding that Mudderella is the perfect platform to talk about [domestic violence] and to get the word out,” said Lauren Brisbo, the communications manager for Futures Without Violence. “A lot of women who participate in Mudderella also connect really deeply with our cause.”
Despite strides made to raise awareness, Ms. Brisbo said, one out of every four U.S. women still experience domestic violence.
“It’s not that hard to believe that people have either experienced the abuse personally or know a loved one or a friend who has,” she said.
The Amy’s Angels team was honored as “Queens for a Day” after raising the highest funds among 800 teams for Futures Without Violence. The team, from Allentown, Pennsylvania, raised $1,045 to benefit the charity, which Speed Queen, a leading home laundry equipment manufacturer, matched with $5,000. Together, they jointly presented a check for $6,045 to help put an end to domestic violence.
The team participated in memory of Amy Williams, whose husband shot and killed her in the couple’s Pottsville, Pennsylvania, home in 2009.
“Amy was such a fighter,” said one of the Amy’s Angels team members. “Without a doubt, if Amy were here, she would have been leading our team through the mud to inspire other women to change their lives and ’own their strong.’
“I can’t speak more highly about those women. They were an incredible team,” Ms. Brisbo said of the Angels.
Ms. Brisbo described what it was like to see Williams’ sister speak at the event.
“It was a way for her to open up and talk about her sister’s death, but it was obviously very difficult for her,” Ms. Brisbo said. “It was just incredible seeing her at the finish line. You could tell that she had such a sense of accomplishment in doing this.
“It reinforced what it means for people to open up, feel empowered and share their stories in hopes of driving more awareness for this cause.”
On Monday, Speed Queen presented the Nativity Shelter for Women, an emergency women’s shelter in Northwest, with washed clothing collected from the Mudderella event, along with a brand-new washer and dryer. The donation will help clothe the nearly 1,000 women who use the shelter each year.
The three remaining Mudderella events this season will be in Colorado, Pittsburgh and New England.
• Emily Leslie can be reached at eleslie@washingtontimes.com.
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