When Community Shows Up: Journe To at the CharmCity Run Spring Block Party

By: By Alicia Carter, MSW | Founder & Executive Director, Journe To

I Am a Runner. And I Am a Social Worker. And Both Have Shaped Everything.

My name is Alicia Carter. I hold a Master of Social Work, and I have spent over a decade working in the fields of child welfare, substance abuse, disaster relief, and mental health. I am also a wellness practitioner with expertise in Thai body work, sound
healing, Reiki, and self-care life coaching. But long before any of those titles, I wassomeone who believed deeply that every human being deserves to be seen, valued, and treated with dignity. That belief is the foundation of everything I do.

In April 2024, I turned that belief into action. I founded Journe To, a Baltimore-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission that guides every single thing we do: Restoring Dignity. Meeting Needs. Walking Alongside. Journe To holds monthly community outreach events in Baltimore, serving our neighbors who are experiencing homelessness. We show up with supplies, yes — but
more than that, we show up with presence, with warmth, and with the unwavering belief that the people we serve are not problems to be solved. They are people to be loved. In our first year alone, we served over 500 neighbors across nine outreach events. We have been gifted a 36-passenger bus and our vision is to convert it into a mobile resource center where the unhoused and homeless community will be able to take hot showers and have access to medical, dental, and vision services.

The vision for this bus is one that moves us deeply. This renovation project represents everything Journe To believes in — that serving people well means going to them, seeing them where they are, and refusing to let geography or circumstance be a reason someone goes without. We are actively fundraising to bring this vision to life, and every partnership, every donation, and every connection we make — including the one we made with Charm City Run — brings us one step closer to that goal.

How Running Carried Me Through the Hardest Season of My Life

In December of 2023, I lost my mother.

Grief is one of those things that no training, no degree, and no amount of personal wellness practice can fully prepare you for. It is heavy. It is disorienting. It asks things of you that you do not always know how to give. In that season, I leaned into movement. I
laced up my shoes and I ran. I walked. I put one foot in front of the other on the days when I did not know what else to do — and somehow, that was enough to keep me going.

Charm City Run was part of that journey. I had run several races with them before, and I had always felt something different at their events — something that is hard to manufacture and impossible to fake. Warmth. Encouragement. A genuine sense of welcome, no matter where you were in your running journey or your life journey. The Charm City Run community did not just make space for runners. They made space for people.

So when I began building Journe To into the organization it is today, and when I started thinking about who in this city truly understood what it meant to invest in community — Charm City Run was one of the first names that came to mind. I knew they had a foundation. I knew they cared. I knew this was more than a running store. And I knew I wanted to reach out.

The Morning That Brought Two Missions Together

On Saturday, April 18th, Journe To set up a table at the Charm City Run Spring Block Party in Timonium. The event was free, full of energy, and exactly what you would expect from a community that knows how to gather people well. Vendors, shoppers,
walkers, runners — all of them showing up on a spring morning to connect and
celebrate.

But what happened that morning went far beyond a tabling opportunity for us. It became
a moment of real, tangible generosity that we will not forget. Charm City Run Timonium, the walk clubs, community businesses, and organizations at the Spring Block Party came through in an incredible way. They donated shoes, socks, clothing, hats, sweatshirts, jackets, shirts, and so much more. Items that were gently used or brand new. Items that reflected the spirit of people who had more than enough and chose to share.

Every single donation collected that morning went directly into the hands of our neighbors at Journe To’s 9th Community Outreach event. The person who received a pair of shoes that morning may never know that those shoes came from a running community on a Saturday in April — from someone who showed up, gave what they had, and moved on with their day. But we know. And we carry that with us.

What It Means When Community Chooses to Show Up

There is a narrative that exists around nonprofit work that suggests organizations doing this kind of service operate in a lane separate from everyone else — that the people who run 5Ks and shop at block parties and walk for fun live in a different world from the people experiencing homelessness on Baltimore’s streets.

The Charm City Run Spring Block Party reminded me that this does not have to be true. When a running community and a dignity-restoration nonprofit stand side by side, something shifts. Walls come down. People who may have never thought about
homelessness in Baltimore now have a face and a name attached to the work. And the people we serve receive something that goes beyond clothing — they receive the message that their city has not forgotten them. That strangers cared enough to give.

That dignity is not something reserved for the housed and the comfortable. It belongs to everyone.

That is the power of what Charm City Run made possible that morning. Not just donations — though those donations meant everything. But a bridge. A connection between two communities that needed to find each other.

A Thank You That Words Can Barely Hold To Charm City Run — thank you for being the kind of organization that made it easy to say yes. Thank you for the races that carried me through grief. Thank you for the warmth I have felt every time I have shown up at one of your events. And thank you for opening your block party to Journe To and making space for this work to be seen. To every walk club member, vendor, business owner, and community member who dropped off a donation that morning — thank you. You gave more than you know.

Keep Walking With Us

Journe To continues to hold monthly community outreach events throughout Baltimore’s summer season and beyond, serving neighbors at the Baltimore Phoenix Shot Tower. If you were at the Spring Block Party and want to stay connected — or if this is the first time you are hearing about us — we would love to have you walk alongside us. There are so many ways to get involved: Volunteer at a monthly outreach event — show up, lend your hands, and meet your neighbors.

Donate supplies — we are always in need of toiletries, sanitary products, socks, clothing, and shoes.

Spread the word — share this post, follow us on social media, and tell someone about Journe To.

Give financially — every dollar goes directly toward restoring dignity for our Baltimore neighbors.

Visit us at www.journetojourne.com to learn more, donate, or sign up to volunteer. We are out here doing the work — and we would love to do it with you.

Want to see the day in action? Watch our Spring Block Party recap here.