Madison Half Marathon provides fundraising opportunity for local groups

A runner takes water from volunteer Melissa Gavin at the Madison Half Marathon on Sunday, May 26.

As about 2,500 runners completed their 13.1 mile race on Sunday for the Madison Half Marathon, several hundred volunteers were there to help them. 

Supporters of Sandburg Elementary School Gardens and the Sandburg Elementary Unicycle Club handed water, gatorade, and ice to runners after they conquered a large hill in the eleventh mile. A couple miles earlier, volunteers from Girls on the Run, a youth development nonprofit, prepared runners for that hill with cheers and midrace hydration.

Besides helping the runners, Madison Half Marathon volunteers also raised thousands of dollars for charity. Each organization manning a  water station received between $350 and $550 for their time, depending on the length of time necessary to man the station.

Melissa Gavin, parent and Sandburg Elementary School Garden corrdiantor, said she hoped to pay for lumber used to build new raised beds at Sandburg with the money from water station volunteering.

Sara Pickard, executive director of Girls on the Run Dane County, said 25-30 people volunteered at the half marathon to raise money for her organization.  She plans to allocate the donation to their scholarship fund. Girls on the Run Dane County aims to promote self-esteem and healthy lifestyles in adolescent girls with physical activity-focused programming. In order to participate, girls and their families pay an income-dependent fee and Pickard supplements their fees with scholarship money, part of which comes from small event fundraising like the Madison Half Marathon water station.

According to the Madison Festivals, Inc. Event Volunteer Manager Megan Glaeser, since Madison Festivals began organizing the Madison Marathon races a few years ago, all volunteers have been reimbursed for their time with donations to a nonprofit of their choice.

Volunteers who helped with tasks other than water handout were compensated at an hourly rate. People who helped hand out medals at the finish line or gave food to runners in the after-race area could donate the compensation for their time, $9 per hour, to a tax-exempt charity.

First grade teacher Joan Brennan helped organized the Sandburg Elementary School volunteers and has volunteered at the marathon for 16 years. She also raises funds for public school projects by picking up trash with students at the Rhythm and Booms festival each July. Brennan likes event fundraising versus sales-based fundraising.

"You can raise more money in one day than you can selling wrapping paper for  year," she said.