Local ‘GirlTrek’ chapter started to address African-American women’s health

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) — A national non-profit organization recently gained a new chapter in the Cape Fear aimed to improve the health of African-American women and girls.

GirlTrek is the largest public health non-profit organization for African-American women and girls in the United States.

The GirlTrek movement was born in 2010 and was started by two friends Vanessa Garrison and Morgan Dixon. This movement was started in honor of Harriet Tubman to encourage African-American women to heal their bodies and take charge of their health by walking in our neighborhoods for at least 30 minutes a day to help combat some of the major health problems plaguing their health such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.

Currently, there are more than 300,000 women who have taken the GirlTrek pledge.

Frankye Boone-Newkirk and Tankeisha Cutler Graham started the  local SoleFineTrekkers GirlTrek group in Whiteville on June 1, 2019.

Graham said they primarily walk on Saturday mornings at 7:30 a.m. in downtown Whiteville or at the local track. They also walk on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. They also walk on special occasions.

The SoleFine Trekkers are planning a movie night to honor their Shero, Harriett Tubman, on Saturday, November 2 at 8:30 p.m. at the movie theater in Costal Grand Mall in Myrtle Beach, SC. They bought out the movie theater and plan to show up in huge numbers wearing their Superhero Blue attire paying homage to the phenomenal woman behind the GirlTrek movement, Harriet Tubman.

Any woman or girl can participate in GirlTrek. Click here to take the pledge.