About The Gratitude Run
A community showing up for its own - one family at a time.
Our Mission
The Gratitude Run exists to unite our community through an annual run that raises funds and resources to support local families in need, fostering compassion, connection, and lasting impact.
What We Believe - Our Values
Neighbors Take Care of Neighbors
We believe the most powerful support doesn’t come from institutions - it comes from people who choose to show up for one another.
Gratitude Is Something You Do
Gratitude isn’t just a feeling. It’s action. It’s showing up, giving back, and turning intention into something real.
Dignity Always Comes First
The families we support are not defined by hardship. Every interaction is rooted in respect, compassion, and confidentiality.
Community Over Competition
This isn’t about pace, rankings, or results. It’s about coming together, moving together, and doing something that matters.
Real Impact, Right Here
Every dollar stays local. Every action creates tangible support for families in our own community.
Built to Last
We are building something that will continue serving families and strengthening communities for generations to come.
Why We Exist
The Gratitude Run exists because of Aaron Smith.
When Aaron was diagnosed with cancer, the people who knew him — neighbors, friends, members of this community - felt that familiar ache of wanting to do something. Not just drop off a meal or send a card, but truly show up in a way that matched the weight of what his family was carrying. That desire to act, to channel love into something real, is where the Gratitude Run was born.
What started as a community rallying around one family became a question that wouldn't let go:
“What if we could do this every year - for any family going through something hard?”
Because Aaron's family isn't the only one. In every neighborhood, on every street, there are families quietly carrying burdens that most people never see. A cancer diagnosis. A job loss. A medical crisis that wiped out everything they'd saved. A parent holding it together for their kids while falling apart on the inside. These families don't put up a sign. They don't ask for help. But they're there - and they're ours.
Every Thanksgiving morning, our community laces up their shoes and runs together. Not just for the exercise. Not just for the tradition. But as a declaration that we see each other, that we refuse to let our neighbors struggle alone, and that gratitude - real gratitude - isn't something you feel at a dinner table. It's something you do.
The Gratitude Run turns that feeling into action. And it started because a community loved their neighbor enough to do something about it.
Want to be part of something special?
Be part of a community that shows up when it matters most. Start your Thanksgiving morning by doing something that changes a family’s life.