Southwest Arkansas Radio Radio Stations KMTB, KNAS and KBHC in Nashville, Arkansas
Rolling through two 5ks in two different towns, the weekend of Cinco De Mayo was a busy one for Ainsley’s Angels of Southwest Arkansas. 11 Angel Athlete Riders pulled 37 Angel Runners across the finish lines of the Nashville Peach Blossom Festival 5k and the De Queen Fiesta Fest Cinco De Mayo Kolor Run 5k on May 3rd and May 4th respectively. Angels came from all over Southwest Arkansas to spread the joy of inclusion: Texarkana, Nashville, Mena, De Queen, Foreman, Lockesburg, and Dierks were all well represented.
Ainsley’s Angels provides free athletic equipment and organizes runners to help facilitate differently abled athletes across the finish line. Their mission is to advocate, educate, and celebrate inclusion in the belief that everyone deserves to belong. Southwest Arkansas Ambassador Tessa Dean said “The runner’s high is amplified when all are allowed to participate. We aren’t just doing this to win a race, we are winning because we are doing something together with people who are often left out of events in our community.”
According to Trent Chambers of Texarkana, who provided part of the Angel team for his son, posted about the Peach Blossom 5k on Facebook: “Thank you! Thank you! And I could say it 1,000 more times and it wouldn’t be enough! I hope everyone had a good time, but I KNOW one little boy who had the best evening ever!” Several Angel Runners were also members of the Women Run Arkansas Nashville Clinic, who have become the first Howard County $1,000 Freedom Chair sponsor. Notably, De Queen Walmart not only sponsored a $1,000 Freedom Chair, but also provided two teams of Angel Runners composed of store managers and employees to support two differently abled athletes cross the finish line in the Cinco De Mayo 5k.
In Nashville, the Peach Blossom Festival 5k benefited the Call, which serves local children in foster care. In De Queen, the Cinco de Mayo 5k benefited the University of Arkansas Cossatot. Both events had race directors willing to work with Ainsley’s Angels to provide an environment that supported inclusion: Angel Athletes rolled free of charge with complimentary t-shirts (Angel Runners did pay entry fees), were provided a handicap-accessible area to meet and transfer into equipment, and were accommodated with a “soft start”several minutes before other racers to avoid sensory overloads such as being stuck in the middle of a large crowd or the start gun.
Considering the Sw-Ark ambassadorship of Ainsley’s Angels began in Horatio on February 23rd of this year with one Angel Athlete Rider and ten Angel Runners from this area (and all borrowed equipment from the Northwest Arkansas Ambassadorship), it is safe to say that inclusion is growing rapidly in Southwestern Arkansas endurance events. While completing their third and fourth 5ks in the area, Sw-Ark Ainsley’s Angels is proud to have used four of their own Freedom Chairs (while still borrowing the trailer and several Axioms-larger racing chariots that will also convert to attach to bikes for triathlon and duathlon-from a very accomodating Northwest Arkansas) to support their athletes in the completion of the race.
The donations of businesses, civic groups, and even churches-the De Queen Church of Christ contributed $1100 in April- have allowed this 501c3 nonprofit to order four more chairs since their last race. The new fleet of eight Freedom Chairs will be put to good use in the upcoming Special Olympics Torch Run in De Queen on May 20th. Angel Athlete Riders are excited to partner with law enforcement, turned Angel Runners, for this event. For more information about upcoming events, to find out how to roll, run, or volunteer, or make charitable donations, you can visit www.ainsleysangels.org, or email Tessa Dean at swarkansas@ainsleysangels.org
