History of track fridayTrack Friday was born in 2012 in the wake of Hurricane Sandy when a few friends put together an informal fundraiser to promote awareness for reputable causes supporting relief and recovery efforts.
The spark for Track Friday was an informal social media challenge by Eric Rubinson, one of Track Friday's founders, to make donations to a local food bank. If his friends could collectively raise $5,000 by Thanksgiving (a three week window), Eric would run a full marathon (105.5 laps) on his old High School track. As the idea picked up steam, others started committing to laps, supporting the food bank as well as other charities providing storm relief. The founders of Track Friday were concerned about the unverified charities that were spontaneously popping up after the hurricane, and wanted to give people an option to donate with confidence to reputable charities. Instead of setting up a fund or collecting the money themselves, they set up a giving page on Razoo and asked people to make direct donations, and backed their commitment to the giving spirit by meeting to run laps. In just a few weeks, the idea spread to six tracks in four states! The one-person run turned into a several community fun runs, with 27 participants generating over $22,000 in donations to charities helping with Sandy Relief efforts! Today Track Friday is an annual call to action for people across the country to put a bit of time and effort into charity, community, and health on a day that has become synonymous with big box sales and consumerism. We're not trying to eliminate these things, but we think the world is a better place when they don't characterize us! |
The original Track Friday logo
Post by Eric Rubinson. 
An additional $15,000+ was raised in 2013!
More than $22,000 was raised in 2014!
Over $50,000 raised in 2015--and another $52,000 in 2016!
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