LONGMEADOW – Whether you walk or run, you’ll be helping kids go places by taking part in the Hot Apple Cider Hustle, a 5K fundraiser for Angels Take Flight on Nov. 2.     

The organization is a non-profit that provides luggage to children who have to move frequently due to being in foster care, hospitals, homeless or domestic violence shelters and safe houses.

“As a runner, I know for a fact that people who run love to be active for a cause,” said Tamara Blake, founder of Angels Take Flight.

Blake, a graduate of Minnechaug Regional High School in Wilbraham, began the organization in 2010 while working with children in safe houses. She had watched many children have to pack their belongings into trash bags to move from one living situation to another.

As she watched yet another child’s belongings being thrown into a bag, she remembered a piece of luggage in her trunk that she had been intending to donate.

“He said ‘This is for me?’ Seeing how it immediately restored a little bit of dignity,” she said, made her realize that this was something she could do to help. Between September and November of that year she gathered enough luggage for children coming through that safe house for one year. The project expanded and became a nonprofit in 2012.

Since Angels Take Flight began nine years ago, they have collected around 4,000 pieces of luggage. Blake said they’re always accepting monetary donations to purchase luggage but if someone wants to donate luggage, she said, it has to be in “new or very close to new” condition.

Safe houses have to be able to accept the luggage, Blake explained, and because they’re regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, she said luggage in poor condition will not be accepted. She also said they’re not accepting vintage luggage anymore, mainly because it is difficult for small children to carry.

“People have really reacted very positively. People will think of us when they have that piece of luggage,” that they don’t use, she said. Angels Take Flight also runs a toy drive that starts in November.

“It literally takes a village,” Blake said.

Registration for the Hustle is $25 online at active.com/longmeadow-ma/running/distance-running-races/hot-apple-cider-hustle-2019. After midnight on Oct. 28, the price increases to $35. The last day to get a race t-shirt is Oct. 24.

Blake said that 100 percent of the proceeds from the Hustle go to the purchase of luggage.

Last-minute registration and bib pick-up are at 7:30 a.m. Runner kick-off at 8:30 a.m., with walkers not far behind at 8:35 a.m. There are prizes for people in first, second, and third-place.

The flat course for the Hustle starts and ends at Fleet Feet Sports, 680 Bliss Rd. in Longmeadow.

“Children participate which is my favorite part,” Blake said. Last year, she said that members of law enforcement and foster care agencies ran in the race. Over the past couple of years, an average crowd of 60 to 80 people participated in the Hustle, Blake said.

To learn more about Angels Take Flight and their toy drive, visit angelstakeflight.org.