The story of The Army Marathon began long before the idea to create the actual marathon. With the observation that many veterans return home from duty with a broad range of individual and family challenges — and that there are often not enough available resources to adequately serve those needs — Richard Archer, Gene Deutscher, Jay Taggart, and Ed Bandas resolved to raise funds and awareness, to fill in the gaps in veterans services, and to highlight the sacrifices our service members, both at home in our local communities and abroad.
From those discussions, The Army Marathon was born.
The Mission
The Army Marathon was created to raise funds for the support our American heroes: the men and women of the United States armed services.
Although The Army Marathon is itself a non-profit, money raised through the races and other events will be contributed to multiple charities at the direction of The Army Marathon Advisory Council. In order to be eligible, qualified charities must support programs that benefit active duty personnel and their families, veterans and their families, survivors of veterans, or other associated programs.
While the principal focus of beneficiaries should be on the local area, The Army Marathon will also support qualified organizations with larger regional and national program goals working in areas ranging from health and well-being, education and job training to transition assistance and employment opportunities.
Although the members of the Advisory Council will make all decisions regarding beneficiaries, all non-profit organizations meeting our mission objectives are invited to submit information for review and consideration.
