An Inspiring Woman on a Mission: Natalie Hummel

As the mother of two, Natalie Hummel knows how hard it can be to get kids moving and active these days.

Between school, extracurricular activities and the amount of time children spend in front of screens (be they televisions, computers, tablets or smart phones), there’s a lot of competition for children’s time. Often getting the recommended 60 minutes of vigorous activity each day just doesn’t happen.

Finances also play a role in children having a more sedentary lifestyle today. Cuts to school budgets often mean physical education programs are scaled back. Meanwhile, many families find the fees for their children to participate in organized sports prohibitive.

That’s why Natalie co-founded and serves as the executive director of KIDS in the GAME (KITG), a nationwide nonprofit that is eliminating those financial barriers and making it affordable for every child to play sports.

“I am super passionate about giving all kids the same opportunities to play sports as I had growing up,” said Natalie, a lifelong athlete who played volleyball through college and enjoys softball. “I literally cannot image a world without kids in sports.”

Natalie and her co-founders know that when a child is engaged in sports and physical play they not only grow up stronger and healthier physically, they are more confident, sleep more soundly, and typically can handle emotional challenges better.

More importantly, physical activity can extend their lives at a time when life expectancy is shrinking for the first time in decades.

“There was a pretty startling statistic that emerged a couple of years ago that today’s 10 year-olds are the first generation of kids expected to have shorter life spans than their parents,” Natalie said. “We just heard it for the second year in a row, so it doesn’t appear to be a fluke. It’s a big concern. We need to work together to change it.”

KITG is working towards that change through several programs making it easier for children to be more active.

• GO! Grants, ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, are awarded to public and charter K-8 schools to spark and sustain physical activity programs that take place before, during or after the school day. The funds may be used for equipment, facilities, professional development for adults and programs that increase students’ physical activity to the recommended 60 minutes or more per day. Since the 2015 school year, the GO! Grant program has awarded 375 grants to public and charter schools in 37 states. Schools can apply for the grants on the Kids in the Game website.
• The PASS program is available to kids between 5 and 18 years of age that can help defer the cost of registering for sports programs. The grant of up to $50 can be applied for each season up to four times per year. The program is currently available in Central Oregon, Portland and Dallas.
• Through a partnership with the Jack A. Pinto Charitable Gift Fund, KITG is helping more than a dozen sports programs serving underprivileged children. The fund honors the memory of Jack, a beautiful 6-year-old boy who loved sports and all outdoor activity, who was killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting tragedy five years ago.

Since its founding in 2010, KITG has help get more than 111,000 kids into sports in 39 states. That’s a whopping 4 million hours of moderate to vigorous activity.

And its mission has inspired many, including kids, to hold their own fundraisers to get kids in the game. My favorite is the utterly irrepressible Natasha Preece, who launched the “Children for Children 5K” in 2015 to raise funds for kids sports programs in the San Diego area. What makes that story unique was that Natasha was only 11 years old at the time! In fact, the entire race was organized and run by kids and young adults and drew 82 runners its first year.

Those are some of the fun and inspiring stories that you’ll find on the KITG website and, if you are looking for some inspiration on good website tactics, I highly recommend you go there. From beautiful photos to well-placed videos to fun use of sports language, it demonstrates how engaging a nonprofit website can be.

Are you a Woman on a Mission? A #ChangeMaker working hard to make the world a kinder, brighter place for those in need? I'd love to share your story.

All you have to do is fill out this form and share with me your vision, your mission, your journey and the impact you're making through the work of your small nonprofit. I'd love to feature you as a Woman on a Mission AND bring a little more attention to your good work with a little marketing love!