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Run for Club Kids-- Sponsorship Opportunities Coming Soon!

Help the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mercer County (BGC Mercer) provide College & Career Access and After School Programs to youth who need us the most.

Raise $300 or more you will earn BGC Mercer Swag!  

Questions?  
Contact Sarah Julian, sjulian@bgcmercer.org

In early 2017 Trenton Rotary members Bill Sheehy, RJ Lewis and David Anderson had a conversation regarding an idea Bill had.   He suggested hosting a run to support BGC Mercer programs.  As a longtime BGC Mercer supporter and former member of the BGC Board of Directors, Bill explained how he had participated in other charity runs, and wanted to do something similar to make an impact locally. RJ quickly volunteered to co-chair the event with Bill, and shortly thereafter Run for Club Kids launched in 2017. 

In 2017, 35 runners ran in the Trenton Half Marathon and were able to raise $180,000 that first year! 

Click Here To View Photos from 2017

After the cancellation of the Trenton Half Marathon in 2018, the group quickly decided to run in two other local races, the Princeton Half Marathon and the Meadow Miler (5k &10K) in October 2018.  More teams and runners were recruited and 75 runners raised $150,000 that year.

In 2019 participation again grew and 150 runners raised $160,000!

Click Here To View Photos from 2019

In 2020 everyone faced many challenges, especially BGC Mercer, but because our programs continued to support our youth, the fundraising team was tasked with delivering a COVID-19 safe Run for Club Kids option and we did. The entire month of October as deemed Run for Club Kids month, and our over 300 participants from all over the country ran any day in October, any distance of their choosing, and raised a record $213,000.

Click Here To View Photos from 2020

In total so far, Run for Club Kids has raised over $640,000 to benefit our Club kids, and provide scholarships to attend our College and Career preparation programs and our After School Program.

Here is the breakdown:

$152,000 funded 111 scholarships for youth to attend our After School Program

$100,000 funded the participation of 80 teens in our Career Launch Program

$150,000 fundd the participation of 80 teens in our College Access Program including the provision of $25,000 in scholarships awarded to these teens to use towards college.

$66,000 funded the membership of 100 youth in our Teen Program.

$170,000 has been put into an endowment fund to ensure we can provide the same benefits to future generations of Club teens.

Both Bill and RJ choose to focus their fundraising on emphasis on College and Career access.  It is their belief that helping one teen go from possible high school drop out to college graduate can make a huge impact in his lifetime earnings-- a 1.6 million dollar impact.  They also realize that not only the teen himself is impacted but that the following generation will be 80% more likely to go one to  college, thus breaking the cycle of poverty.