With the combination of a global pandemic and civil unrest around racial injustice, June of 2020 set the stage for important societal and human issues to finally come to light in a more permanent way. This was the same time that two friends, Justin and Tyler, decided they wanted to take action to make a difference in the injustices and inequality we see in our communities. The week of George Floyd’s passing, Justin called Tyler voicing his frustration from Floyd’s murder and subsequent reactions, and they joined forces to do a running challenge that very weekend that involved running 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours. A GoFundMe was set up to collect funds from friends and family throughout the running challenge to donate to help support racial justice. What started as a way to take the mind off of the pressure cooker of injustice resulted in a massively successful and attention-grabbing fundraiser, and eventually turned into a 501(c)3 nonprofit, still strong and growing today: 48 For Change. Aside from fundraising and donating, Justin found that the community that gathered to run that weekend was something special, and needed its own spotlight. A place where anyone can come and simply run with a group of good people. Venice Run Club was born. Over two years later, we‘ve grown into a strong group of 1,000+ unique runners a week, have donated $143,000 and over 2,000lbs of clothing to the LA community, guided over 300 runners to completing their first marathon, and become On’s first-ever sponsored run club in America. Come make friends, break a sweat, and get to know the city in the best way possible: by running its streets.
