Oakland Marathon and Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Launch Strategic Partnership to Further Support Local Youth
Eat. Learn. Play. Kids Fun Run on Saturday, March 16 as part of the Oakland Marathon weekend
Oakland, CA—October 19, 2023 – The Oakland Marathon announced today that Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. will serve as the Official Benefiting Charity of the annual event. Through event partnerships, participant peer-to-peer fundraising, as well as staff & running community participation in Eat. Learn. Play. programs such as schoolyard remodels, the two organizations will work together to expand upon interrelated strategic objectives supporting Oakland students.
Building upon last year’s successful Eat. Learn. Play. Kids Fun Run, which welcomed 500 kids to Lake Merritt for a morning celebration of play, the 2024 event will take place on Saturday, March 16 with a goal to double participation and build the foundation toward hosting one of the most well-supported Kids Fun Runs in the country. Through this partnership, the community event will be free to any Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) student, with participants also receiving a t-shirt and a finisher’s medal. The event will offer running distances that range from a quarter mile to one mile for ages 12 & under along Lake Merritt. In addition, several sensory activities and play opportunities will be available at the Saturday morning Family Festival.
The two organizations have a shared objective to support one another’s efforts in providing safe and accessible opportunities for play for all of Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) 35,000 students. Additionally, the Oakland Marathon is supporting Eat. Learn. Play.’s enhanced commitment to ensuring that all OUSD students are provided the nutritious meals they need to thrive and the necessary support to become better students and to create great schoolyards and opportunities to be active and participate in youth sports. The Currys’ Oakland-based public charity aims to raise and invest $50 million in additional support and resources for Oakland students by the 2025-26 school year to transform the school experience for a generation of students where they eat, learn, and play each day.
“We look forward to expanding Run Local’s continued partnership with Eat. Learn. Play., now as a strategic partner and Official Charitable Beneficiary of the Oakland Marathon,” said J.T. Service, CEO of Run Local Ventures, LLC. “We not only want to create one of the biggest and best kids fun runs in the world, but we also envision year-round opportunities to support Oakland’s youth.”
“We are thrilled Eat. Learn. Play. is partnering with the Oakland Marathon, a world-class event celebrating the spirit of our adopted hometown of Oakland,” said Co-Founders of Eat. Learn. Play., Stephen and Ayesha Curry. “As the new charitable beneficiary of the Oakland Marathon, we’re grateful that the event will help support the work we do to help students in our community reach their full potential. In addition, our ‘Eat. Learn. Play. Kid’s Fun Run’ will give hundreds of children the opportunity to participate in the festivities, free of charge.“
The 2024 Oakland Marathon and its events are scheduled for Friday-Sunday, March 15-17. To learn more and to register, visit: oaklandmarathon.com
Follow @oaklandmarathon and @runlocalevents on social media to stay informed for additional community events throughout the week. Participants are encouraged to share their journey with #OaklandMarathon and #RunLocal.
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About Run Local® Ventures, LLC.
Founded in 2012, Run Local’s mission is to inspire movement in your community™. It has produced events in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout California, including the Oakland Marathon (March), the San Jose 8K & Half Marathon (June) and the Santa Barbara Half presented by HOKA & SB Independent 5K (November). Each of its events celebrate the local running community, artists and the unique diversity of each region.
For more information, visit runlocalevents.com and also join us on social @runlocalevents.
About Eat. Learn. Play.
Founded by Stephen and Ayesha Curry in 2019, Eat. Learn. Play. launched with a focus on improving the lives of kids and families in Oakland, the Bay Area, and across the country. We support children’s well-being through access to nutritious meals, quality reading resources and opportunities to play and be active because everyone deserves the chance to live a happy, healthy childhood. Our efforts are focused on improving Oakland public schools to transform the school experience for a generation of students—ensuring all OUSD students are provided the nutritious meals they need to thrive, the support needed to become stronger readers, and great schoolyards and opportunities to be active and participate in youth sports.
For more information about Eat. Learn. Play., visit www.eatlearnplay.org, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
