Lace up your running shoes for a chance to fund schools on the near east side of Detroit. The Timber Trot, supporting the Hantz Foundation, starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 6, at Hutchinson Elementary School.
More than 1,000 foot soldiers are expected to greet the morning with a sanctioned race route and a sustaining mission to serve. Runners, suppliers and Hantz Foundation members as well as members of the local community helped to raise more than $35,000 last year. This year’s sponsors hope to exceed that number and do more good.
“Parents often come up to tell us how much better the neighborhood appears because of our work here.” -Kwame Simmons, Race Director
“We’re looking to help the schools in our target district have an equitable opportunity for educational programming around the arts, public speaking and literature,” says Kwame Simmons, director of the Hantz Foundation, and race coordinator.
Runners of all skill levels can trot along a guided route viewing the growth of trees since a public planting three years ago, see playscapes and other projects at local schools and cheer for newly rehabbed houses and manicured lawns. Participants will travel a square mile bounded by Kercheval, Van Dyke, Jefferson and Mack.
Schools inside this square include Detroit Waldorf School, Southeaster High School, Detroit Enterprise Academy and Hutchinson Elementary-Middle School. Partners in creative education include Pewabic Pottery and the YMCA.
Simmons and the Hantz team see a new approach to rebuilding communities. Fundraising takes a fun twist with a fun run and a community celebration. Instead of putting a little effort in a town 139 square miles, the team target a square mile for concentrated change.
“We’re initiating a five goals in this east side neighborhood: To insure equity and empowerment, transform education, provide economic opportunity, connect people to accessible transportation and foster a livable community,” Simmons says.
“This is a bite sized approach to tackling really big problems,” he adds. His team works with government agencies, businesses, block clubs, private citizens on a variety of health, education and beautification efforts.
“Parents often come up to tell us how much better the neighborhood appears because of our work here,” says Simmons, a former educator who joined the Hantz Foundation at the request of its president, Lauren Hantz.
The Hantz family, John Hantz, the CEO and visionary, and daughter Lauren, run a for-profit urban farming venture that takes brownfield land discarded by previous generations of Detroiters and uses farming to renew the neighborhoods. The family also owns Hantz Bank and Hantz Group that provides business services.
Beyond the greater good, there’s an immediate gain in fitness and fun. The race organizers will have free live tracking and progress alerts on race day. There is a RaceJoy mobile app that will provide GPS progress alerts and estimates at the current pace for finish time, a means of finding friends via the meet up tool and audio cheers you can play to keep motivated along the route.
To sign up or just donate to the cause, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/Detroit/TimberTrot
Timber Trot supports five pillars of community growth added by Maureen McDonald on
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