The fifth Olympic games are around the corner and track star, five time Olympian Allyson Felix is helping empower fellow women with childcare costs through a grant program.
Felix, partnering with Athleta and the Women’s Sports Foundation have created The Power of She Fund: through the Child Care Grants. $200,000 will help fund child care costs for mothers who are competing in this summer’s Games in Tokyo and the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022.
“It was important to me and to Athleta that our partnership reflects that I am more than just an athlete. In fact, part of my contract includes provisions for my daughter, Camryn, to join me whenever I am competing,” Felix said in a release last week. “But not everyone has access to this type of support from a partner or sponsor. These grants are about showing the industry that all mom-athletes need this same comprehensive support to be able to participate in their athletic endeavors.”
“When you’re restricted by your finances, you have to say, ‘These are my options.’ Having support, your options open up,” Felix says. “I think it’s going to translate to better performances. [With support] you’re a better athlete, a better person, a better mother.”
“This is going to make a huge difference in their lives,” Felix told GMA. “Childcare is one of the huge barriers that we have to overcome.”
“I really do hope also that this spurs an industry-wide change, and we look to support women holistically,” she added.
The first set of mothers, six of whom are headed to the Tokyo Olympics, will receive $10,000 each. The covid-19 pandemic places restriction on families being able to come to Tokyo, which places mothers with nursing children with special needs.
The Power of She Fund: Child Care Grants was designed to accommodate any financial assistance a mom-athlete needs, GMA reported.
The upcoming games will be Felix’s first time competing as a mother and her training was a sacrifice of its own.
“I was doing a lot of my training, literally, around my house so I was running in the streets in front of my home and I was in the gym and in our garage and you know my daughter is looking down from above,” she added.
