Racing to Support Our Kids!

Naomi Thompson, J.D., The Home’s Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, and son Benjamin Isaiah Thompson Hall run The Falmouth Road Race this August to benefit The Home.

Naomi distinctly remembers standing on her high school stage at age 15 and raising money for The Home for Little Wanderers. It was the ’80s, and she and her fellow members of the Chaplains Advisory Committee were determined to do good deeds. Years later, Naomi continues to raise funds and awareness for The Home, though these days, she does so as a leader within our organization. On August 20, 2023, Naomi will take her support a step further by running The ASICS Falmouth Road Race with her son, Benjamin, as part of The Home’s Falmouth Road Race team.

From a young age, giving back was engrained in Naomi. She participated in The Walk for Hunger at ages eight, nine and 10 with her father, Bill Thompson, her Brownies troop and her church youth group. As an adult, she ran the Boston Marathon in 2010 for the Boston Debate League and biked 80 miles in the Pan-Mass Challenge to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in 2018. “This is who my family raised me to be,” she says.

It is also the way she has raised her son. Ben, a 25-year-old competitive athlete working as a personal trainer and towards his MBA, grew up within a culture of sports and philanthropy. He is fresh off running the Providence Half Marathon, in fact, finishing in just about two hours! Ben’s goal is to run Falmouth’s seven-mile seaside course quickly and circle back to run with Mom.

Ben has taken his mom over the finish line before. When he was 12, he ran the last six miles of the Boston Marathon alongside her, and then walked another three miles home when Naomi was so cramped and dehydrated she couldn’t get into the car to drive. “He probably did nine miles with me, by my side,” says Naomi, with pride. “My good son.”

Naomi, an avid tennis player and cyclist, is working out with Ben to get herself “in running shape” and calling on her marathon training to help her go to the distance. “Every day, I’ll run one mile, then a mile and half, then two, three and four miles,” she says. “Hopefully by race day, I’ll be able to run the majority of the seven miles.”

It is both a personal and professional challenge, given the cause behind their efforts. “Being immersed in The Home and having the opportunity to see our programs close up, I have such an appreciation for The Home and the real work that people do. Whatever I can do, in addition to my job as Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, I’ll do. And to have fun at it and do it with a family member? For me, that’s what life is all about!”

Naomi and Ben, together with board member Ashlee McClary, Laura Kablik and Michaela Kablik, form The Home’s Falmouth Road Race Team. Click here if you wish to support Naomi and Ben’s fundraising goal and the kids of The Home. Thank you!