Washington, DC – We would like to send a special “Thank you!!!” to Team Semper Fi, our Community Athletes and all of our wonderful sponsors, supporters and volunteers for an incredibly successful 2010 Marine Corps Marathon!

Thanks to your heartfelt support and participation we were the largest charity in this year’s Marine Corps Marathon, with more than 815 athletes representing the Semper Fi Fund, and your donations and sponsorships allowed us to exceed our fundraising goal of $400,000.00!

This was also the largest single event for Team Semper Fi, our rehabilitative sports program. With their mission of “Recovery through sport” more than 80 team members and their families came from across the country to compete in the marathon! Their determination, camaraderie and competitive spirit was an inspiration to us all, as well as to those who have been injured recently. We’re proud to report that their inspiration resulted in having several more Servicemembers approach us to join the team!

Our event filled weekend started off on Friday night with a special dinner for the members of Team Semper Fi at the Marine Corps Barracks at 8th and I. The barracks graciously hosted a dinner for our injured Servicemembers and their families, and among those in attendance were many who were recently injured and new the Semper Fi Fund family. Stephen Cochran (country music singer, OIF/OEF Veteran injured in Afghanistan and Semper Fi Fund family member) highlighted the night with his motivational spirit and heartfelt music. And, as happens every year, Maggiano’s Restaurant generously provided the excellent Italian cuisine!

Friday and Saturday we had the pleasure of meeting many of you for the first time at our booth at the the Health & Fitness Expo in the Washington Convention Center. We also spent a great deal of time making new friends and spreading the word about the Semper Fi Fund’s mission.

On Saturday night more than 400 of you attended our pasta dinner at the Capital Hilton to “bulk up on carbs” and spend some quality time together. The night was incredible and our special speakers, General Alfred Gray (USMC (Ret) and 29th Commandant of the Marine Corps) and Lance Corporal Ronnie Porta (USMC Ret) gave incredible speeches that reminded us all about the reasons why our mission is so important.

The pinnacle of the weekend came on Sunday when each of you stepped up to meet the challenge that is the Marine Corps Marathon! After the run we met over at our tent in Charity Village and the day was filled with camaraderie, exciting stories from the course and shared stories for the many reasons that each of you competed. Handshakes were replaced with hugs and tired muscles received the attention they needed from the wonderful folks at Ultimate Sports Massage Team (USMT)!

Sunday ended with us parting our separate ways, returning to the 40 states and 4 countries that we came from, but parting knowing that we’ve grown as a team and grown closer as a family of supporters.

But as we end one MCM we begin planning for the next, and we do so with the intentions of making next year’s MCM bigger and better!!

In the coming months we’ll begin the process of planning for the 2011 MCM and we’ll be looking forward to working with everyone again!

We can’t thank you enough for supporting our cause. As conflicts continue abroad and our men and women in uniform continue to become severely injured, the need for our fund will remain for decades to come. Your support is critical to our success and we look forward to working with you in 2011 and beyond!

On behalf of the Servicemembers and families we support:

Thank You and Semper Fi!!

Some interesting fact about our 2010 MCM Team:

• We came together as a team and through your tireless efforts, and your cherished donations and sponsorships we’re proud to report that we’ve exceeded our goal of $400,000.00!!
• We came together from 40 states across the country, as well as from Guam, Uruguay, Guatamala and the United Kingdom!
• You were 492 men and 323 women strong!
• More than 5,000 individual donation and sponsorships were received to attain our goal!

2010 MCM Top Individual Fundraisers

Bill Dial $9,050
Michael Pitassi $7,102
Bob Panza $6,705
Joe Presgraves $5,045
Anthony LaBoa$5,002
Dave Moran $4,442
Rebecca Packer $4,180
Nancy Mallon $4,010

2010 MCM Top Team Fundraisers

(as of 10/20/2010)

Two Foot Onion $18,043
UNI% $7,590
Helping Hand $4,677
Yankee Runners in Mem. of Cpl. Robert P. Warns, II $2,755

It’s not too late! If you would still like to donate to support a runner: Click Here Today!