The Stay Away 5K — the first-ever social distancing 5K, planned and executed in 13 days, reaching runners across 18 states.
Wellroot Family Services believes every child deserves a home — not just a roof, but a safe, secure, loving environment where they can grow into who they’re meant to be. As an agency of The United Methodist Church in North Georgia, Wellroot supports youth from infancy through early adulthood through Foster Care, Transitional and Independent Living, and Family Housing programs — all built around one conviction: that a healthy home changes everything.
When the world shut down in 2020, Wellroot still needed to show up for the thousands of children and families counting on them. So they did something no one had done before — they hosted the first-ever social distancing 5K.
Participants signed up online, received a t-shirt, mapped their own 5K route, tracked it through an app, and uploaded their results to social media before gathering virtually for a live opening and closing ceremony on Facebook and Instagram. Runners from 18 states showed up. Thousands of dollars were raised. And Wellroot’s team came out the other side encouraged, refreshed, and ready to keep going.
There was no playbook for this. A social distancing 5K had never been done before — and Wellroot needed it built, promoted, and live in under two weeks.
Create a community fundraising event that could bring people together during a moment defined by distance — generating real energy, real participation, and real dollars for a cause that couldn’t afford to go quiet.
We moved fast. In 13 days we helped Wellroot build a full social media strategy, mapped out exactly when and where to go live, and showed up on event day to host a ceremony that made runners across 18 states feel like they were part of something bigger than their neighborhood route.
A focused one-person deployment — because sometimes one is all it takes.
Six thousand five hundred people reached. Runners from 18 states. Thousands of dollars raised for children and families who need it most. And a Wellroot team that crossed the finish line feeling seen, supported, and ready for what’s next.
For a first-ever social distancing 5K built in 13 days, that’s not just a win — that’s a blueprint.
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