What we do
We push kids to
reach their
full potential!
Running Down a Dream’s mission is to provide running shoes, health education, and running or walking training to every kid in need so they can live a healthier life, train, and succeed in all areas of their life.
Running Down a Dream offers kids a place,
outside of school, for them to make new friends, set and reach goals, learn about living a healthy lifestyle, and get rewarded.
Our organization does three things:
1. Receive
2. Clean
3. Give Back
We collect new and gently worn running and
athletic shoes, clean & disinfect the gently used pairs, and then give back to Central Texans.
As a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, we rely on donations from YOU and local athletic stores so that we can get kids who are in need of a new pair of shoes, the pair that they have dreamed about.
We Give Back
Any new or gently worn pair of running shoes that we receive, gets appropriately cleaned and given to a child in need. All monetary donations go directly into buying shoes through our partnering stores and shoe vendors.
We Educate
Using helpful and knowledgable running experts, alongside some of Central Texas’ best runners, we teach our kid how to correctly fuel your body with food, how much water they should drink, how much exercise they should be getting, and how to properly train for a race.
We Train
Using various training methods based on each kid’s appropriate distance, speed, and experience, we prepare each kid with a training schedule they can follow and log so that they are ready to perform well on race day.
We Mentor
Today’s youth need a helpful hand and right guidance at every stage. We bring in coaches from all over Central Texas to help coach and mentor our kids to with them their running experiences, challenges, successes and failures. We push the kids to talk to our coaching mentors so that they can help them through their training.
We Strengthen
Running is as much physical as it is mental. Our goal is to help prepare kids both physically and mentally for challenges outside of running as well as during their training, and teach them ways they can implement in their own lives to get through challenging times.
We Reward
When our runners complete their training and training race, they will be given a reward donated by our great partners. These rewards include tickets to local concerts or sporting events, free pairs of shoes, gift cards, and many other choices.
Our Projects
More Shoes= More Life
Often times, children who’s family can’t afford organized sports, will find themselves overweight or involved in negative groups that lead them down negative paths in life. Our purpose with our New Shoes Movement is to give them a pair of shoes so that they can be active, involved, and supported by an organization that offers new education and opportunities for them. We collect shoes from donors and local athletic stores so we can give back to kids in need.
Run 4 Life
Our Run 4 Life program will introduce kids to training for a local race of their choice, a 5k, 10k, or half marathon. Join us EVERY SATURDAY at 9am in front of the Woodlawn Lake Gymnasium for an opportunity to join other young kids for a run/walk, meet new friends, set new health goals, and meet mentors & running coaches who run or walk with the athletes while they can train for a 5k, 10k, or half marathon.
