One way to get involved with Operation Jack is to participate on a team. We created our first team in 2014 for the Mount Desert Island Marathon in Maine, and 10 runners raised about $4,000 for a pair of local autism charities.
The recipe is simple: We’ll provide you with a free entry and a special thank-you gift. We form a Facebook group for the team and everybody has fun chatting about training and race weekend. Your fundraising minimum will be about the cost of the race entry. So, worst case, you end up making a donation that costs the same as what your race entry would have cost. But realistically, when your threshold is low, it’s pretty easy to exceed it with hardly any effort. That’s the big secret — you’ll probably accidentally raise a little bit more than the minimum. What’s no secret is that everybody has fun, runs a race for free and autism charities benefit.
If you’re in the Northeast, or thinking a trip to one of the most scenic marathons in the country sounds like fun, consider joining the 2015 Operation Jack Mount Desert Island Marathon Team (half marathon participation is allowed, too).
If you live in a different part of the country and are interested in us helping form a team to help a charity in your area for a different race, we’ll do that, too. It doesn’t have to be a marathon or half marathon — it can be a shorter distance, such as a 5K. If you’d like us to help, contact us and let us know!