TORONTO April 15th 2015. In excess of $6 million was raised through the 2014 Canada Running Series with hundreds of local charities benefiting from the philanthropic nature, not to mention the blood, sweat and tears of thousands of runners.
This year appears to be headed towards even greater success.
Up next in the eight race series is the Toronto Yonge Street 10k (April 19th), an event which has attracted, amongst others, two time Olympian Eric Gillis and Canadian Women’s Marathon Record Holder, Lanni Marchant.
Red Door Family Shelter was chosen as the ‘official charity’ of this year’s event which makes sense when one considers they have been involved with the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon fundraising for the past five years.
Their two shelters provide both short term and long-term housing for victims of domestic violence, housing crises, as well as refugees from other countries, and has a combined total of 156 beds. Serendipitous perhaps, but they are located near the 37km mark of the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, the Series’ flagship event.
“Some people come to us for one night,” explains Kathryn McKechnie, Red Door’s Fund Development Manager, “especially if it’s a domestic violence situation. They might come to us for one night but they might come a couple of times before they finally leave. But people can stay with us for as long as they need to.
“The average time is about three months, but people can stay for up to a year if their situation is complicated. Sometimes people, when they come to us, have no belongings, they have no access to their money, they have no job, nowhere to live. They might want to get custody of their children and so we work through everything with them before they leave so that, when they do leave, they are not at risk of becoming homeless again.”
McKechnie says the shelters have been operating for thirty years and on any given night half the beds in the family shelter are filled by children. The association with the Toronto Yonge Street 10k is something she sees as very positive.
“We have about 100 staff altogether,” she reveals. “For the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon we have a regular group of between five and ten staff people, as well as a couple of board members and committee members, who ran the half marathon last year. That number has grown over time. So it was a great opportunity.”
While Red Door is the official charity runners 
can expect to see many other charities at the family area after the race is completed. One of them is Kenyan Kids Foundation which received official charity status in Canada at the end of 2014. The founders are Wesley Korir, the 2012 Boston Marathon winner from Kenya and his wife, Tarah McKay-Korir, a native of St. Clement, Ontario, who is scheduled to race this year’s 10k. Three years ago she was the race winner.
Spending most of the year in Kenya where Wesley is now a Member of Parliament for Cherangany district, Tarah will challenge her friend and sometime training partner, Lanni Marchant who was in Kenya for several weeks this past winter.
“If I compare my training to 2012, well, I was training with Lanni a lot in Kenya,” Korir declares. “I wasn’t doing anywhere near the mileage (in 2012) I am doing now. I increased it. I am definitely in better shape than I was last year and hopefully my workouts have been showing that I am at least in ‘almost the best shape’ I have ever been in.”
Following the race Korir, victorious or not, will meet runners at the Kenyan Kids Foundation table.
“The key phrase and mission statement of the Canadian foundation is ’empowering families is equal to thriving communities.’“ Korir explains.
“Most of the residents of Cherangany are farmers, a lot of them are corn farmers. That allows them to get money once a year,” she explains. “They grow corn all year but often struggle to get money for their bags of corn. The good thing about dairy farming is that it provides a daily income. So the Canadian foundation is trying to, first of all, bring the farmers together in a cooperative. If they sell the milk together they have more bargaining power.”
Korir says a large part of their involvement with the constituents is educating them in efficient farming techniques. Two of the Canadian Kenyan Kids Foundation board members, who happen to be farmers from Southern Ontario, are presently in Kenya as part of this initiative.
The Toronto Yonge Street 10k is also the only running event in the city to host the IGNITE Toronto 2015 Community Tour an initiative of the 2015 Pan Am Games organization. That too is a natural fit for the event since the Canada Running Series full time staff will handle logistics of the Pan Am Games marathon races in July.
Spectators and runners are invited to join in the post-race celebrations with Pachi, the Toronto 2015 mascot, and Mississauga Indie rockers Daylight for Deadeyes, while having the opportunity to explore the work that both Red Door Shelter and Kenyan Kids Foundations do.
As a matter of fact, there’s still time to support Red Door Family Shelter’s programs for children who are healing from the effects of homelessness and abuse. Make a donation today! https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/team-red-door-toronto-yonge-st-10k-2015/
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