See Donation Dollars In Action
Miami middle-schoolers run with ING
Miami middle-schoolers run with ING
January 28, 2009
ING Run For Something Better raises fitness and funds for Miami schools.
More than 4,000 Miami-Dade County middle-schoolers participated in the 15-week, 25-mile ING Run For Something Better program that led up to the Sunday, Jan. 25, marathon. To the cheers of thousands of parents, family members and others, most of those children ran the last 1.2 miles of the marathon course. ING developed the ING Run For Something Better (RFSB) in 2003 to introduce kids to the benefits of running, physical fitness and healthy lifestyle choices.
Pablo Figueroa, an eighth-grader at Miami's Hammocks Middle School, completed the race in only 5 minutes, 17 seconds. "Right from the start, I knew I was going to win," Pablo said. And Isabella Ancheta, a sixth-grader at Miami's Young Women's Prep Academy, finished the girls' race in just less than seven minutes. But all 4,000 children and their schools won through increasing their physical fitness, learning new skills - like goal-setting and discipline - and participating in a free running program.
Building important business and community relationships
Building relationships with school system officials - including advocates like Dr. Jayne Greenberg, district director of Physical Fitness and Health Literary for Miami-Dade County Public Schools - is another key benefit of the program. The education market is key to ING and ING RFSB builds ING's visibility, credibility and business relationships.
ING acknowledged the public school's participation in ING RFSB with at an honorary luncheon for local education, business and community leaders. Eighty-five people attended this year's luncheon, including four senior cabinet members from the Miami-Dade County superintendent's office, teachers, assistant principals and principals.
During the program, ING presented awards to three local teachers for their strong support of ING RFSB. Three schools were also acknowledged for their commitment to the health and fitness program: Citrus Grove Middle School, Kenwood K-8 and Hialeah Middle School.
The luncheon also gave ING's education market representatives great exposure with key decision-makers in the market. ING's Mark Luckinbill, Karen Kiley and Fabian Gonzales all took the opportunity to build ties with the education community.
After, Rhonda Mims, head of ING Foundation, thanked all the teachers, coaches and administrators; she cited some impressive accomplishments of the ING RFSB program across the country:
More than 36,000 children have participated in programs funded by the ING RFSB.
At the race, U.S. Congressman Kendrick B. Meek spoke with the kids and ran with them. When the kids crossed the finish line they were met by many of the elite marathon runners and received congratulations and high fives.
"As a father of three, and someone who works closely with school districts across the country, I'm so excited about the great things our ING Run For Something Better is doing - for the students, the schools, and our business," said Mark Luckinbill, ING southeast regional vice president in the education market.
"Locally, the ING RFSB reaches about 30 middle schools," said Mark. "More than $400,000 dollars have been donated and thousands of kids have logged countless miles. We've also built important relationships with school administrators across the country - a big plus for our education market business."
In Miami-Dade County, the Fit Miami Foundation oversees the ING RFSB program. Every middle school in the county participates. During physical education classes, participants are challenged to run a total of 25 miles over about four months. The children keep training logs that their coaches monitor and evaluate. Children are motivated by the chance to run their final mile as part of the ING Miami Marathon and Half Marathon. In front of the large cheering crowds, they cross the same finish line as elite marathon runners from around the world.
Tie on orange laces
In the fall of 2006, the ING RFSB was enhanced by creating the Orange Laces program. Orange Laces is a public fundraising campaign. When someone donates $10 or more, ING gives them a pair of orange shoelaces to show they are tied to supporting kids' fitness. All net proceeds go directly into ING RFSB fitness programs.
Fitness among children has never been more important. Now at record levels, childhood obesity is one of the most significant health concerns facing the country today.
By the numbers, Miami's program works. During last year's marathon, more than 3,300 middle school students participated in the ING RFSB Final Mile event. On this year's marathon day, 4,000 kids crossed the finish line.
Key stats on ING RFSB at ING Miami Marathon and Half Marathon
Student runners:
4,000
Number of buses:
52
T-shirts:
4,000
Medals:
4,000 (Everyone's a winner)
Schools represented:
50
ING RFSB miles run:
104,800 miles over 15 weeks
Orange laces tied end to end:
More than 29,000 feet long