In 2011, Chiditarod VI teams made race history by raising over $18,000 in monetary donations. In the past, both food and funding had gone to the same organization. This year, Chiditarod VII chose to diversify how we assist our community and is thrilled to announce our fundraising recipient is Growing Home.

Why Growing Home?

Chiditarod does a bang-up job feeding people. Now, imagine if there were less people to feed! Growing Home helps empower our communities by teaching them to grow their own food which leads to a more sustainable food chain in our Chicago communities. More specifically, Growing Home's mission is to operate, promote, and demonstrate the use of organic agriculture as a vehicle for job training, employment, and community development.

Help even More!  Matching Grant!

Your team can set up a fundraising page easily and for free.  Plus, you'll DOUBLE YOUR DONATION as Growing Home is the happy recipient of an anonymous matching grant! This special funding is meant to encourage new donors and increasing gifts by recent donors.  The money you raise through these websites will automatically be donated to the Growing Home, and it's tax-deductable! This year we've partnered with WePay.com so that each team can create their own online fundraising page to raise money for Growing Home. You can set up your own fundraising page by following the simple steps below:

1. Start by filling out the form, below.
2. You'll shortly be contacted by our friends at WePay with your login instructions for your fundraising page
3. Customize your fundraising page and get crackin'! If you'd like, feel free to copy and paste the description below onto your fundraising page or create your own.
   Dear friends,

   On March 3rd, 2012, I will be participating in the 7th annual Chicago Chiditarod.  If you have never heard of it, the Chiditarod is a mobile food drive that combines elements of Alaska's Iditarod with a costumed race and Chicago's own unique brand of social activism.

   Basically, I will be donning a ridiculous costume while pushing a shopping cart filled with canned food down the streets of Chicago.

   In short, this is a crazy event with a very serious cause.  We are trying to raise money for Growing Home, a Chicago-based not-for-profit, and we are asking for your support.

   Growing Home provides job training, employment, and community development through the use and promotion of organic agriculture. Growing Home is working hard to increase the availability of fresh vegetables in the South Chicago neighborhood of Englewood, where they have two organic farms and offer gardening workshops.

   Your generous donation will go twice as far as Growing Home is the happy recipient of an anonymous matching grant!  Here is how your tax deductible donation can help:

   • A $25 Donation can supplement the cost of three families' vegetables at our Englewood farmstand
   • A $50 Donation can furnish supplies for a healthy cooking workshop
   • A $100 Donation can supply one kind of vegetable seeds for the job training programs on our organic farm
   
   

   Thank you so much for your generous contribution! It will make a huge difference in someone's life.

   To learn more about Growing Home, you can visit their website: www.growinghomeinc.org.

If you have any challenges or concerns, click here to contact us.