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Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon awards $18,000 in grants through Community Contribution Program

September 21, 2017

Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon, along with the Knoxville Track Club, presents checks to the 2017 Community Contribution Program grant recipients at YWCA Knoxville’s downtown location on Sept. 20. A total of $18,000 was awarded to five local organizations to support healthy living in East Tennessee. Pictured from left: Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon Executive Director Jason Altman; Ellie Kittrell of The Muse Knoxville; Alle Lilly of the YWCA; Melanie O’Dowd of Sunshine Ambassadors, Inc.; Melissa Massie of Knox County Schools; Grant Barton of the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club; and Knoxville Track Club Executive Director David Black.

Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon presented $18,000 in grants to five local organizations to support healthy living in East Tennessee.

Grant recipients include the YWCA Knoxville, The Muse Knoxville, Appalachian Mountain Bike Club, Knox County Schools and Sunshine Ambassadors.

“This year we are supporting five local programs that will make a positive impact on the overall health of our community,” Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon Executive Director Jason Altman said. “We look forward to seeing these programs in action.”

The YWCA received $5,300 for its Fitness Incentive Challenge, which offers incentives for low-income, high-risk YWCA housing program clients to increase their level of physical activity.

The Muse Knoxville was awarded $5,000 for its “Listen to Your Heart: Heartbeat Drum” program. The funds will be used to purchase, install and implement an interactive tool to engage children and adults in thinking about their hearts and how different factors affect heart health.

The Appalachian Mountain Bike Club received $3,000 to fund materials and equipment that will be used to maintain the urban wilderness trail system, including bridge construction and repair.

Knox County Schools was awarded $3,500 to the Hydrate Project, a program to purchase and install water refill stations in two Knox County high schools. This project will impact more than 2,500 students each year.

Sunshine Ambassadors, a non-profit organization that teaches students who have physical and mental challenges, received $1,200 to fund equipment and nutritional information for its summer dance camp.

In addition to the Community Contribution Program, the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon is proud to partner with several local charities, including the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley, Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee and Knox Area Rescue Ministries.

The Covenant Health Marathon and the Knoxville Track Club have a longstanding history of reinvesting in the community. From 2005 to 2017, a total of $160,000 has been donated to support projects, including the placement of mile markers along local city and county greenways, the addition of trails in South Knoxville’s Urban Wilderness and a golf cart to patrol and clean the greenways. Past recipients include Young-Williams Animal Center, Ijams Nature Center and Legacy Parks Foundation.

For additional information, please visit www.knoxvillemarathon.com.

About Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon

The Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon is a premier event organized by the Knoxville Track Club, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the encouragement of physical well-being through physical well-being through running and walking.