Running for a Cause: Charity Miles!

I have recently discovered an app that I wish I had known about much much sooner! Charity miles is an app available for both apple and android that partners with sponsors Johnson and Johnson, Humana, and Chobani to donate money to charity based on miles moved. This app can be used by runners, walkers, bikers, anyone that moves basically! 

Every organization that is supported by Charity Miles is a bigger name nonprofit that is well-known, such as the ASPCA, Stand up to Cancer, American Diabetes Association, Habitat for Humanity, and many many others. New charities are added every day. As a speech and language pathologist and an avid runner, I personally choose to run most days for Operation Smile, an organization that provides free or low cost plastic surgery for repair of cleft lips and palates. This is a perfect way to bring my passions for running and my career together. What is great about this app, however, is you can change charities with every run- you don't have to commit to just one! 

Perhaps my favorite feature of this app is the ability to form teams. I run regularly with a group of moms (and strollers) and we competed in a challenge through the month of January via Charity Miles. It is fun to track your friends and compete with them virtually, all while raising money for a good cause. In the month of January, I only logged 27 miles with the app after missed miles (which i will talk about later) and $6.90 was raised for Operation Smile. That may not seem like much but take an average day in Ann Arbor- how many people do you see running outside? If all of those people used this app imagine how much of an impact could be made! 

If i had to give a negative, however, I do find Charity Miles frustrating in that you can not log miles-it has to be tracked live. Being the winter, many of the miles I run are on the treadmill so unless I wear my phone on me in an armband or belt I am not able to get credit for those runs. I also had trouble initially using the app where it kept turning off during the run but that seems to have been fixed. 

All things considered, this app is amazing for those who want to combine loves of fitness and service of others. There are obviously kinks to be worked out but the future of Charity Miles seems very very bright and I am excited to continue using it! Below you will find a you tube clip of the founder of this app. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTcM74bkBdI