The Color Run, nicknamed the “happiest 5k on the planet” is a global for-profit organization that hosts untimed five kilometer races around the world. The company hosted an event in Ypsilanti at Riverside Park on Saturday, May 11. Tickets were on sale for $50 each and the event sold out.
According to their website, the business focuses on “healthiness, happiness, individuality and giving back to the community” and began in January 2012.
The company asked eight charities and organizations in the area of Ypsilanti to provide volunteers for the “Michigan Eastside” run.
The Color Run gave each company $40 toward the organizations for each participant who had represented, according to the Food Gatherers, a non-profit organization dedicated to making sure residents of Washtenaw County do not go hungry.
These eight organizations included the Food Gatherers, Ypsilanti Meals on Wheels, Growing Hope, Downtown Association of Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Public Schools, Parkridge Community Center, SOS Community Services and the Michigan Elvis Fest.
The Food Gatherers also said that with the revenue Color Run pays them to supply volunteers will be enough to donate 120 meals to the food bank of Washtenaw County.
Another charity, Growing Hope, is also involved in feeding the hungry in the local community of Ypsilanti. Celebrating its 10th anniversary on June 1, Growing Hope is a “social enterprise” non-profit organization that focuses on helping families to provide food for themselves through gardening.
As well as paying for the volunteers, The Color Run participates in helping out charities in other ways. For example, making donations to these organizations, asking runners for donations when they register and allowing some charities to sell registration themselves and keep the revenue.
In 2012, the Color Run donated over $600, 000 to local charities, according to the website. At each completed kilometer throughout the race volunteers pelted the runners with a different color powder.
The first kilometer was pink, the second was blue, the third was yellow, the fourth orange and the last was met with a mixture of them all. Each Color Run race held throughout the world has this same color pattern.
The run has two rules, participants have to wear white and they have to leave covered in color powder.
The powder used in this race is 100 percent safe, according to the website. The volunteers are told to throw the powder low as people run by to not interfere with breathing. There is also a low-color lane in the middle of the path for runners who wish to experience less color.
The runs also provide a cleaning station, where after the race-runners receive an air-blown color cleaning to blow off some of the powder, the site said
“The number one goal of The Color Run, as it relates to charities, is to increase cause awareness. We want to help shine a light on important issues,” according to the website.
