Team Brighter Bites Makes Debut at 2017 Austin Marathon

This summer Brighter Bites was chosen to be one of 26 Official Charities of the Austin Marathon and Half-Marathon, which will be held on Sunday, February 19, 2017. With the help of the online fundraising site CrowdRise and Austin Gives Miles, the philanthropy wing of the Austin Marathon, runners can join Team Brighter Bites to raise money for our Austin program. With a fundraising goal of $10,000, we are looking for 50 runners to raise $200 each. Easy Peas-y! If we reach our goal, those funds could pay for 55,000 pounds (one week’s worth) of fresh produce for our 1600+ Austin families.

Brighter Bites Founder Lisa Helfman and Executive Director Sam Newman are currently training for the half-marathon and we hope you will too! All members of Team Brighter Bites will be invited to monthly group training runs at Lady Bird Lake followed by post-workout healthy protein smoothies. The fundraising incentives include a Brighter Bites t-shirt, a Brighter Bites Nalgene bottle, a Yeti Rambler 30, and free registration for the race.

Last year more than 750 runners dedicated their training miles to one of the 25 official nonprofit organizations and raised more than $260,000. Couple that with The Moody Foundation’s generous offer to match the funds raised for each charity, up to $10,000, and the grand total exceeded $440,000.

The official charity chaser program will return for the 2017 race with a yet-to-be-announced legendary and well-known Austin runner. This runner will raise awareness for the Austin Gives Miles program by starting in last place and raising money for every runner they pass.

According to Austin Gives Miles, 2016 was a record-breaking year, but 2017 promises to be even bigger! They anticipate that the program’s fourth year will bring the overall total raised to more than $1 million. Help Brighter Bites meet that goal!