The greatest achievements come from those who are willing to sacrifice for something bigger than themselves.

Race with Purpose provides opportunities to combine your passion for community service with athletic performance. We will challenge you to push beyond your perceived boundaries by completing an endurance event, such as a half marathon, marathon, or triathlon, while dedicating yourself to worthy causes that improve the lives of children.

Race with Purpose athletes have raised millions of dollars to support organizations that serve kids who struggle because of poverty, disadvantaged educational systems, and preventable chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, as a result of obesity.

While training for the NYC Half Marathon, the ING New York City Marathon, and the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, members of the 2007 team raised donations for a Race with Purpose fund at the Robert H. Lorsch Foundation, a private 501 (c)(3) organization with a long history of supporting youth-wellness causes.

An advisory committee of the team's most devoted and enthusiastic members evaluated grant applications from charities that are having the most measurable and meaningful impact on the kids they serve.

The committee is honored to have invested in the following organizations:

Healthy Directions Inc.
Grant: $20,000
What RwP Funds Will Support: Our investment will enable Healthy Directions and the Eugene M. Lang Foundation to design and implement a Parent Literacy Initiative in three government housing facilities in New York City. Parents will learn basic health literacy skills, addressing proper diet and physical activity for their families. Information will be based on the needs of parents living on budgeted resources, and teach experientially in local grocery stores and bodegas. The workshops will occur in tandem with their children's participation in the Lang Youth Healthy Literacy Program.

Marathon Kids
Grant: $20,000
What RwP Funds Will Support: With programs already thriving in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Texas Rio Grande Valley, Los Angeles, and Baltimore, Marathon Kids will use RwP funds to help start efforts in the Chicago Public Schools during the 2008-09 school year. Targeting children most vulnerable to sedentary lives, childhood obesity, and Type 2 diabetes, Marathon Kids is a free six-month endurance running and walking, nutrition, and schoolyard gardening project for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade.

Students Run Oakland
Grant: $12,500
What RwP Funds Will Support: Students Run Oakland is a noncompetitive athletic and mentoring program in Oakland, California, that trains low-income students from inner-city public high schools to run a marathon while instilling the values of goal setting, discipline, and commitment. Our funds will cover the transportation costs to bus the kids out of the city to safe areas to train each weekend, such as running trails, parks, and marinas.
 
Race with Purpose funds are invested in projects and programs that meet the following criteria:

* Serve disadvantaged youth
* Focus on disease prevention, as opposed to disease cure
* Empower children, helping them to build confidence and character
* Include an aspect of benefit for the whole family
* Have the highest likelihood of success based on the opportunity, impact, and effective management

Our requirement is to clearly state: "But for the use of these funds, this would have not occurred."