Main photo: Justine Brown (left) and Rob Horton (right) from Band on the Run present a cheque to Community Living Huntsville staff and supporters (from second left) Councillor Nancy Alcock, Steve Speicher, Andrea Johnston, Kim Thompson, and Cathy Stroud
It’s so much more than a cheque.
This year’s Band on the Run road race raised both awareness and thousands of dollars for Community Living Huntsville (CLH), and those funds will help the organization further its mandate to create a more inclusive community.
CLH advocates for and provides support for people with developmental disabilities. Many of their services are government funded, but not all members of the community who need that support meet eligibility criteria to do so. Community Living Huntsville wants to address that gap to ensure everyone can get the support they need to thrive in the community where they live. They plan to launch a new program this fall that will help do just that.
It’s a cause that Band on the Run organizers were happy to support for the second year in a row. The event raised more than $12,000 this year, with some of the fundraising coming from pledges in a dye-your-hair challenge that had some community members sporting green and blue locks for the race.
“The first year we didn’t really know too much about Community Living Huntsville,” said race co-organizer Justine Brown. They decided to support the organization after co-organizer Melissa Key learned about its work at a fundraising breakfast.
CLH volunteers helped out both in advance of and during the race, musicians from the organization played on the race route, and an Inclusion in Motion team trained in advance to participate in the race. “It was just so impressive how much they got involved on the day of the event, and watching people who had never done anything like that realize that they could,” said Brown. “Band on the Run is a community event that is about furthering health, and it fit so perfectly into what we are trying to achieve. Community Living added a whole other element and made it truly accessible to so many people.”
Cathy Stroud, CLH Executive Director, said the organization loves being part of Band on the Run. “It’s not just the money, people were included in almost every facet.”
Community Living is now putting plans in place to hire a new staff member in the fall, funded in part by Band on the Run proceeds, who will facilitate the new program and help ensure people with developmental disabilities aren’t falling through the cracks in the system. “We are excited about that,” said Stroud.
See pictures from this year’s Band on the Run here.
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Rob, it’s very selfless of you to be singing the praises of others, who have “become an important par of our community”. But it is very hard to imagine another single, local individual, who could have grown the Festival of the Arts from its extremely humble beginnings to the shining example that it is for other towns today. Thank you to you, my friend.
Due to the vision and efforts of Rob, Justine and Melissa this event has grown over the years and become an important part of our community. It’s the perfect mix of fun, activity and fundraising. Seeing the financial impact they have made on a number of local organizations over the years, must be rewarding for them. Keep up the great work!