Haven partners with MMIP groups for in-person Mother’s Day 5k run

The May snow squalls were no match for the hardy runners, walkers, stroller pushers, and dog-walkers who joined us for our first in-person Mother’s Day 5k in three years.

Opening remarks at this year’s event came from folks representing the MSU American Indian Council and the MMIP Student Association, to draw attention to the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples.

People who are Indigenous make up about 7 percent of Montana’s population, but they made up more than a quarter of Montana’s missing persons between 2017 and 2019. Indigenous people experience violence including murder, sexual violence, and domestic violence, at higher rates than non-Indigenous people do.

At Haven, the proportion of Indigenous survivors we served last year was seven times higher than the percentage of people who identify as Indigenous in Gallatin County.

Maleeya Knows His Gun, one of the creators of the MMIP Student Association, read this poem at the start of the event:

Reps from the MSU American Indian Council and the MMIP Student Association also tabled at the event. Thank you for your work!

You can learn more by following the MSU American Indian Council’s Facebook page. Our local press also covered the partnership and the race. Big thanks to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle for doing this story, and to KBZK-TV for this one.

Thank you to everyone who braved the springtime flurries to join us in person this year!