Featured Fundraisers — The Running Brooke Curran
November 17th, 2011 by Christian Brink
The RunningBrooke FundA project for Act for Alexandria
$16,326 raised on Razoo
189 donors
20 fans
This fundraiser ends on December 31, 2011
In May 2009, Brooke Curran of Alexandria, Virginia, combined two of her passions: running marathons and being a good neighbor to those in need. The result was a mission to raise money for local nonprofits while running a marathon a month until she covered all 50 states, including the District of Columbia, all seven continents, and the five major world marathons.
In order to make this happen, Curran founded the RunningBrooke Fund. As her charitable umbrella, she partnered with ACT for Alexandria, a community foundation that helps her distribute funds to five local nonprofits: ACTion Alexandria, Child and Family Network Centers, Community Lodgings, Girls on the Run, and The Reading Connection.
“I’ve raised about $80,000,” said Curran. “It’s all gone to support reading and ESL programs, preschools, homeless shelters, and other charities that don’t just throw money at the problem, but work to solve the problem.”
Since starting the RunningBrooke Fund in 2009, Curran has already run a total of 40 marathons, traveled to 30 different states, and five of the seven continents. She’s run across a section of the Great Wall of China, through the Australian Outback, with a herd of wild horses on Easter Island in Chile, and in Berlin and London. Curran’s next international stop will be Antarctica in March 2012.
But Curran hasn’t always been a runner. As a mother of three children, she started simply as way to get out of the house for fresh air and exercise. Her first official marathon was the Marine Corps Marathon in 2002, which she ran in reaction to the September 11 attacks.
Curran worked hard and quickly advanced in the sport, bettering her time and fitness with each race. But the more she improved as a runner, the less it mattered to her. “The faster I got and the more things I did, the less it meant to me,” said Curran. “Running solely for time left me feeling empty.”
In 2009, she had an “Aha!” moment while driving home through an at-risk area in Alexandria. “It’s a section of town where you drive through and lock your doors,” said Curran. “And then once you’re through, feeling kind of guilty, you unlock your doors and forget about the area you were just in.”
She decided she couldn’t keep ignoring the problem without taking action. It was then that she combined running with the need she saw in Alexandria and created the RunningBrooke Fund.
In her first year, Curran raised $20,000. “The idea and my commitment started to inspire others around me,” said Curran, “by showing what one person can do.” She also pays for all her travel and associated fees, ensuring that each dollar raised goes to a designated cause.
In addition to managing the RunningBrooke Fund, logging over 80 miles a week for training, traveling, running marathons, and being a mother of three, Curran was diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma in 2008, something that originally threatened to derail her entire fundraiser.
So what keeps her going? While her race time is still a factor, Curran runs for the under-served children and families of Alexandria.
Dealing with the obstacle of asthma has allowed Curran to better relate to those she’s raising money for. Similar to struggling with issues of unemployment or homelessness, Curran has had to overcome certain roadblocks to reach her goals. Now she’s able to recognize symptoms and take the proper precautions such as asthma-controlling medication and slowly warming up her lungs before a race.
Curran hopes to complete her marathon goals around late 2013. She also plans on beginning to speak publicly about the RunningBrooke Fund.
“It’s important to share this message of overcoming a roadblock, but also the idea of what someone can do for others if they set their mind to it.”
