Forever Loved

✨ Sponsor Spotlight ✨
It means so much when a sponsor comes back year after year, and Bronson Healthcare is exactly that kind of partner. 🩷🩵

Thank you for believing in this cause and in our community. We cannot wait to see you on race day!

Register today at https://bit.ly/KalamazooBabySteps5K

We hope to see you!

At the Baby Steps 5K, you can walk, run, or simply join us for the post-race memorial honoring the babies gone too soon from miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss. You can also find support in our community through local organizations and leaders in providing perinatal bereavement support resources prior to or after the race.
This year's race proceeds will support three organizations that help individuals and families in Southwest Michigan and beyond who face pregnancy, stillbirth, and infant loss.

More Info Below or scan QR code.

Price:
🏃🏾‍♀️ Register by August 31 to secure your spot and your free race t-shirt: https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/Kalamazoo/BabyStepsKalamazoo

💲 Family price option is available for up to 2 adults and 4 children
Race information:

🕯️🩷🩵 This race is in honor of Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day (October 15). We simply choose to host the event in September to hopefully avoid inclement weather! However, rain or shine, the race is still on! 🌦️

🚶‍♂️ Walkers will follow a one-loop course - 2 miles
🏃 Runners will follow a two-loop course - 3.1 miles
👕 Shirts are included with registration before September 1
🍎 Post-race snacks and water are provided

📅 Schedule of events:
Friday, September 25
5-7 PM: Bib pick-up & pre-race check-in.
Location: Biggby, 23944 Red Arrow Hwy, Mattawan, MI 49071

Saturday, September 26
8:30 AM - Bib pick-up and on-site registration
10:00 AM - Race begins
11:15 AM - Remembrance Ceremony
(Short intro by race hosts. Babies' names are read. Moment of silence. Race medals awarded to winners. Thank you to sponsors.)

This race is organized by Amos' Anchors and Forever Loved (A Committee for Better Perinatal Bereavement Care in West Michigan).

This caption does a great job capturing the heaviness that grief can carry as well as the never ending love.

Use this as your reminder that grief comes in waves.

Some days you might feel like a hot mess with a dumpster fire in the background (anyone else feel that or just me?) and other days glimmers/memories of them are just surrounding you bringing happy tears or a little smile to your face.

Please know it is OK to feel ALL the feels and that each day might look different or feel different especially when it comes to their angelversary, birthday, milestones and or holidays. Let the waves (emotions) ebb and flow.

Let us know below which you are feeling today.

As a community champion of Rx Kids Kalamazoo, we were proud to be a part of a press conference this week announcing the expansion of Rx Kids into Oshtemo, Galesburg, and Wakeshma townships!

Rx Kids is a place-based program designed to improve maternal and infant health by addressing the economic hardship families face during pregnancy and infancy. Eligible families in the City of Galesburg and Oshtemo and Wakeshma Townships will receive $1,500 during pregnancy and $500 per month for the first year of a child’s life.

Eligible participants must be at least 16 weeks pregnant at enrollment, and newborns must be born on or after June 1, 2026. To learn more or enroll, visit RxKids.org.

I don’t miss being pregnant.

I miss that baby.

The one whose name I whispered before anyone else knew.

The one I counted weeks for.

The one I imagined at Christmas.

The one I pictured in the backseat.

The one I wondered about every time I walked past the baby aisle.

People always say, “You can have another.”

But grief was never about wanting a baby.

It was about losing that baby.

That heartbeat.

That future.

That little person who only existed for a moment, but changed my life forever.

And no pregnancy after that one could ever replace the child I was already in love with.

Hi!

We are the faces behind the annual Baby Steps 5K!

Maybe you've seen us at one of the past Baby Steps 5k event, maybe you've seen us on social media or radomly in the community. Or maybe you have never seen one of us before and that's ok too :).

Either way we wanted to share our faces and say hello and would love if you would drop a 👋🏽 below.

Sincerely,
Tricia, Kristen, Christine, Lauren & Ilona

P.S. Don't forget to mark your calendars, hit going or interested on the Baby Steps 5K event and/or sign up today!