African charity World Vision has 1,200 in upcoming Chicago Marathon

Bob Brown has been a runner since the mid-1990s, but he wasn't sure he could ever do a marathon.

"Seven or eight miles would feel like a pretty long run," the Winfield resident said.

But when World Vision made a presentation on its humanitarian projects in Africa this spring to Willow Creek Community Church DuPage, where Brown attends, he wanted to help. Then the World Vision representative said the organization was putting together a group of runners to participate in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 11, to raise funds.

With some nudging from his wife, Brown signed on. Six months of training later, he 's confident he'll complete the 26.2-mile race.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I felt this was something I could do to stretch me as a runner, but this was (also) something I could do to help the people in Africa."

Brown is fairly typical of the 1,200 runners registered for the Chicago Marathon on behalf of World Vision, said Michael Chitwood, national director of the Team World Vision running program.

"Seventy percent are first-time marathoners. Many people thought they could never do it," he said. "Many of our people weren't even runners before they signed up."

Of the 1,200 World Vision runners, 350 are from Willow Creek's campuses in DuPage, South Barrington, Chicago and McHenry. Brown is one of 49 runners from the DuPage location in West Chicago, an early supporter of the Team World Vision program.

Steve Spears, lead pastor at Willow Creek DuPage, said the church's involvement started with a few people and grew to 50 members last year, who raised $50,000. This year, the Willow Creek team includes not only members from the church's other campuses, but even some people from outside the church.

"It's been a great bridge builder," Spears said.

The running program also is proving to be a great fundraiser for World Vision, which describes itself as the largest Christian humanitarian relief and development organization in the world.

Chitwood said with each runner collecting an average of $1,000, the organization expects to raise $1.2 million from the Chicago Marathon.

"It's our first year as the biggest charity in the Chicago Marathon," Chitwood said. "It has just exploded this year."

Chitwood started the program in 2006. That fall, 95 runners raised $150,000 for World Vision's African aid programs.

The number of runners grew to 800 by 2008 and they raised $1 million.

Runners pay their own registration and travel costs. Although World Relief suggests each participant aim to collect $1,000 in donations, it accepts whatever runners can do, Chitwood said.

"Some runners raise $300 or $400," he said. "We've had people raise over $30,000."

The funds raised by the runners go specifically to Africa, though World Vision has programs in nearly 100 countries, Chitwood said. This year, proceeds from the Willow Creek team will help equip volunteer social/hospice workers with bicycles and medical supplies to care for Africans affected with AIDS and provide support to their families.

Funds raised by the race also will help fund a project to provide clean drinking water for the people of Kenya.

Of the 1,200 runners registered for the Chicago race, 50 percent are from the Chicago area, Chitwood said. The rest come from as far away as Dallas, Iowa and Vermont. In fact, a contingent of runners from a Vermont church will be housed by members of Willow Creek, Spears said.

World Vision has focused on the Chicago Marathon because with 45,000 runners, it is one of the largest in the country and has open registration, Chitwood said. But next year, World Vision also will have teams at eight other events around the country, he said.

Participants can run as individuals, or form teams from a church, corporation or group of friends. They are provided with a training program to follow and meet in group runs once a week.

Relationship-building has been a benefit of the program for Willow Creek, said Glenn Bingham, leader of the church's DuPage team. Participants may spend several hours at a time together during a training run.

"There's bonding that occurs during the training," he said. "There has been friendships formed that continue."

Brown, a member of the boards of Winfield District 34 and Winfield Public Library, has found another benefit as well. He's lost 25 pounds thanks to the extra exercise and giving up drinking soda during training.

"It's been a nice extra bonus," he said.

To read about the Willow Creek DuPage runners or make donations to any of them, visit willowdupagerunners.blogspot.com.