MHS Cross Country - Developing Character and Runners for Life

The MHS Cross Country fund was started with money earned by the MHS Cross Country team members at a car wash sponsored by JH Car Wash on Detroit Street in Morton, in July of 2009. The car wash owner, Mr. Tom Harper offered the use of his car wash at no charge to the team, and also matched the first $1,000 they earned. Donations from customers receiving car washes totalled $1,504. So, the initial seed money to start the fund was $2,504 after the $1,000 match. Grants to the team would begin every year, once the balance of the fund reached at least $10,000.

Parents were then challenged to donate $1 per minute of their runner's personal best (PB) time of the season. So, after the first cross country season, checks started arriving at the MCF in amounts like $16.01, $17.12, and $24.17 based on runners' PB times. Occasionally, parents have donated $10/minute instead of the suggested $1/minute. Then, after 2 cross country seasons had passed, an anonymous couple stopped in the Foundation office and asked how much it would take to get the fund up to the $10,000 needed to begin grantmaking. The couple ended up making a $5,500 donation bringing the fund balance to the $10,000 mark, ensuring that the first grant would be given to the cross country program before their students graduated from MHS. The first grant in the amount of $500 was given to the cross country program in the Spring of 2012.

Grants have been given every year since 2012, and have grown each year. With these grants, the MHS Cross Country program has been able to purchase things like: a pop-up tent used at meets, new warm-ups, a video camera, and Garmin GPS running watches.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to this endowment fund, please click the button below for online donations. Or, you can mail a check to 135 S First Ave, Morton, IL 61550. Write "MHS Cross Country Endowment" in the memo line.