NORTHAMTON — As thousands prepare to run or walk through Northampton on Dec. 2 for the annual Hot Chocolate Run, organizers Safe Passage are looking to raise $750,000 to help end domestic violence.
In 2004, the first Hot Chocolate Run saw more than 400 participants and raised $6,000 for Safe Passage, a Northampton-based organization that provides counseling, emergency shelter, legal assistance and other services for survivors of domestic violence.
Last year, the event raised $611,000. As of Sunday afternoon, the organization received $404,854 in donations since registration began in September.
In over a decade of fundraising, Safe Passage Executive Director Marianne Winters said that the Hot Chocolate Run has been a vital component of Safe Passage’s growth.
“It has meant everything for our organization,” Winters said. “There’s not a program that isn’t touched in some way or the other by the generosity that comes from the Hot Chocolate Run.”
She continued, “The event itself has grown and that’s really fun and a great way for the community to come together, and it has helped us get into a position to better serve the needs of our community.”
Serving the areas of the community that are most in need can be expensive, Winters said, and one way that the Hot Chocolate Run has impacted Safe Passage’s services has been by giving the organization resources to reach these communities.
The money raised from the Hot Chocolate Run is not the event’s only measure of success, Winters said. Staff members from prevention programs attend the event to inform participants how they can find year-round ways to help survivors of domestic violence.
The Hot Chocolate Run hit its maximum of 6,300 participants around mid-November, which Winters said demonstrates the community’s support for the event.
“We were thrilled when we did (reach the maximum), and we had definitely hoped to,” Winters said, “but we weren’t surprised, because we had found this growing enthusiasm around the event itself and being part of the solution around domestic violence.”
The 5K race begins at the intersection of Crafts Avenue and Old South Street and loops back to the starting point for the finish line. At the end, participants enjoy hot chocolate mixed by Northampton Brewery and made with ingredients from Northampton Coffee and Our Family Farms.
Three different iterations of the Run are held throughout the morning to provide different levels of physical intensity: an almost 2-mile walk at 9 a.m., a “fun run” at 9:30 a.m., and a competitive race at 10:15 a.m.
Although registration has closed for this year, anyone can donate to Safe Passage through the Hot Chocolate Run’s website.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.