A running race around Mayfaire Town Center April 4 simultaneously kicked off Easter weekend and Azalea Festival week with color and enthusiasm despite the overcast, threatening skies.
Around 100 participants, many dressed in bright clothing and several sporting pink hair dye, lined up for the sixth annual Azalea Festival Big Buddy 5k. The Easter Bunny, carrying a basket of eggs for the children, signaled the start of the race while three Azalea Belles in colorful gowns cheered the runners on.
The event also included a 10k and a fun walk. Race director Annie Anthony said the race drew around 130 participants in all and raised about $1,500 for Cape Fear Volunteer Center’s Big Buddy Program, which matches at-risk children with volunteer mentors.
Several big buddies and little buddy pairs raced in the 5k together, although not necessarily side-by-side.
“She’s faster than me,” big buddy volunteer Amber Scutt said of her little buddy, Kahleah Richardson. The two stood near the finish line after finishing the 5k, shouting encouragement to the other runners.
The Big Buddy Program hosts events every month for all the pairs as well as any unmatched volunteers or little buddies. Outside those events, Scutt said she spends time with Richardson doing a wide variety of activities.
“We try to do something once a week,” she said. “We just saw ‘Sweeney Todd,’ we’ve gone to the movies, we do a lot of arts and crafts, and art shows.”
The relationship between a big buddy and a little buddy can be that of a mentor, a friend or a sibling. For 22-year-old Shawnett Moulton and her little buddy, 9-year-old Navi Williams, it appeared to be a combination of all three.
Moulton, an intern with the program, volunteered to hand out water bottles at the finish line. Since she had to arrive at 6 a.m., she told Williams she would pick her up to go ice skating when the race was over.
“And she was like, ‘Can I go with you?’” Moulton said. “I was like, ‘Six in the morning and you want to get up?’ But she got up. … We’re still going to go skating, though, she won’t leave me alone about skating.”
Moulton said she and Williams were matched Nov. 11. She went through the application process to be a big buddy and came across Williams’ little buddy profile.
“She had on a cheerleading outfit, and I was a cheerleading coach at the time. … She was an only child, and I was like, ‘Yep, that’s mine,’ because I was an only child,” Moulton said. “That’s how we try to match you, if you have similar interests and stuff like that.”
On top of going ice skating and bowling, Moulton and Williams do everyday activities like shopping, cooking and baking. Moulton said she recently showed Williams how to make her spicy chicken and rice recipe and the two baked bunny cupcakes for Easter.
And like many sisterly relationships, in addition to sharing time together Moulton said they share shoes.
“She can fit in my stilettos,” Moulton said. “She walks around my house with my shoes on, she stole a pair of them yesterday.”
“I did not steal, you said I could take them!” Williams cried out, bounding over.
“She took a pair of my stilettos,” Moulton corrected, smiling.
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