Running Shoe Program
Since 1991, the YAF has donated over 4,500 pairs of running shoes to the area’s high school cross country and track and field athletes.
The Running Shoe Program provides area high school running teams with free running shoe certificates that the head coaches can then distribute to their athletes in need.
If you’re an area coach or would like your high school program to be involved, please contact our Office Manager Kellie Luedloff via email at [email protected] or call our office at
(218) 727-0947.
Without that first pair of running spikes, I wouldn’t have had the bravery to try almost every event and go to practice every day. Without showing up to practice, I wouldn’t have learned lessons from my coaches that helped me become a college athlete. I wouldn’t competed in cross country or entered half marathons. Most of all, I wouldn’t have earned a college degree in Exercise Science and become the person and coach I am today.
YOUNG ATHLETES FOUNDATION
The Athletes Foundation (YAF), the charity arm of Grandma’s Marathon, was created in 1990 to assist with the promotion and development of healthy and active lifestyles for youth throughout Carlton, Cook, Douglas, Lake, and St. Louis Counties. Since its inception, the YAF has donated more than $1.1 million to the community’s youth athletic, recreational, and nonprofit organizations.
If you are interested in volunteering for any of our Young Athletes Foundation (YAF) events or have any other questions, please contact our Program Director Alivia Nelson via email at [email protected] or call our office at (218) 727-0947.