Not-for-profit organizations and community groups whose programming is designed to promote active lifestyles for Oakland County residents have until April 1 to apply for a Brooksie Way Minigrant.
The program has helped support more than 150 projects throughout the county that range from a martial arts club for young people with cancer and adult yoga classes to summer basketball camps and swimming lessons for children. Since the program began in 2010, more than $260,000 in Brooksie Way minigrants has been distributed. The maximum award is $2,000. Winners will be announced in late April at the kickoff for the 2019 McLaren Brooksie Way Half Marathon.
"These minigrants continue to touch countless lives in our county, helping support the fitness programming so vital to our residents," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said. "This is one of the true legacies of The McLaren Brooksie Way and our family of races of which I am most proud."
Minigrant guidelines and applications as well as race registrations can be found at www.theBrooksieWay.com. Brooksie Way apparel and souvenir merchandise can be purchased at the site too.
Patterson started the minigrant program to put proceeds from the McLaren Brooksie Way Half Marathon back into the community. The Brooksie Way races, which include a 10k, 5k and "The Lil' Brooksie" children's race, were named in honor of Brooks Stuart Patterson, the son of the county executive and a young father, who died in 2007.
The 12th running of the McLaren Brooksie Way Half Marathon is set for Sept. 22. The race, which can be run or walked, has become one of the most popular regional fall half marathons. The course begins and ends at the Meadow Brook Amphitheatre on the campus of Oakland University and includes parts of the Clinton River and Paint Creek trails, Rochester Hills and downtown Rochester. MLive readers named the Brooksie as one of the top courses in Michigan.
Published: Thu, Mar 14, 2019
