Megan Wolfe: Striving to improve the lives of others

Published 1:30 am Monday, April 3, 2017

More stories about Emerging Leaders 2017

This is one of a series of stories profiling finalists for the Emerging Leaders award, which is presented annually by The Herald Business Journal. The winner will be announced April 6.

Megan Wolfe is passionate about two things — raising her two young sons and building Girls on the Run of Snohomish County.

For the latter, Wolfe launched the nonprofit in 2015. The program aims to inspire and build confidence in girls third through eighth grades while establishing a lifetime appreciation of health and fitness.

“My life is guided by the idea that we should always be striving to improve the lives of others and in doing so we’ll improve our own lives as well,” Wolfe wrote in her nomination form. “My work with Girls on the Run enriches my own life, the life of my children and the lives of all our volunteers, families, and girls.”

Wolfe is the director for the program. She became familiar with Girls on the Run Puget Sound while she was living in Seattle. When she moved to Snohomish County in 2014, she found that there wasn’t a similar program here.

She contacted the international organization and raised more than $7,500 for seed money for the nonprofit. She helped recruit and create a nine-member board.

It started at three Edmonds School District elementary schools and the Francis Anderson Community Center. So far, 290 girls have participated in the program.

This spring, Wolfe anticipates 200 more girls will go through the program.

“I strive to do work that would make my younger self proud and that I can look back on later in life and know I made a difference in my community,” Wolfe wrote.