TIMES OF NEED
The HMF running community has shown time and again their willingness to rally around a worthy cause.
The 2020 “Move With Purpose” challenge at the virtual Eversource Hartford Marathon & Half Marathon, Hartford HealthCare 10K and Saint Francis Hospital 5K, raised more than $420,000 for local charities. Together with traditional fundraising activities of race participants, every penny of the $25 registration fee was donated through the HMF Gives initiative to support charities’ urgent needs.
2020 UConn Health Half Marathon, 10K & 5K – Between virtual race registration donations and participant fundraising efforts, more than $33,000 was raised for the UConn Health COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund, which provides needed medical supplies and equipment for local healthcare professionals and staff supporting the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
The 2020 virtual We Run CT Challenge raised $5700 to support MakerspaceCT. The donation was used to purchase materials to produce approximately 500 face shields for distribution to healthcare professionals in the Hartford region.
In response to the federal government shut-down that left local CT service members from the Coast Guard working without pay or furloughed, the Run for CT Coasties was created. In one long weekend in January 2019, the virtual 5K raised $8,070 for the Southeastern CT Chief Petty Officer’s Association to provide gas and grocery cards for service members.
More than 1,060 participated in the 2017 RunHartford for Houston virtual race, raising more than $30,000 for hurricane relief efforts. Just a month later, more than $4,300 was raised in the PRforPR campaign at the Eversource Hartford Marathon to provide support services for Puerto Rico.
In 2013 following the tragedy in nearby Newtown, CT, HMF produced the Sandy Hook Run for the Families, the single largest inaugural 5K in the US. Rallying support and donations from sponsors in the industry and across the region, HMF hosted 15,000 participants and the event raised $438,000 for the Sandy Hook School Support Fund.