Local Charities Raise More than $16,000 in Santa to the Sea Challenge

    OXNARD, CA, January 30, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Five local charities participated in the 7th Annual Santa to the Sea Half Marathon & Relay's 2014 Charity Challenge in December and raised more than $16,000 for their organizations.

At the Jan. 27 Charity Challenge awards ceremony at The Kitchen restaurant in Oxnard, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme was named Top Charity. Its five teams--helmed by BGCOP CEO Erin Antrim, Supervisor John Zaragoza, Director of Public Health Rigoberto Vargas, BGCOP board member Steve Kinney and Ventura County Senior Deputy District Attorney Rachelle Dean-- raised a total of $6,300 in donations. Future Leaders of America was named the Top Team, for raising $4,124. The team was led by Eder Gaona.

Other Charity Challenge participants included FOOD Share, Inlakech and the Autism Society.

"The Charity Challenge offers local nonprofits a way to raise money and is another way for people to get involved in the race and support our community," said Mike Barber, race director and founder. "Over the years, we've had many different charities take part in the Challenge, and we look forward to working with more in the future."

At the Dec. 14 race, Santa to the Sea hosted 3,700 runners, enabling the nonprofit event to give away nearly 3,000 toys to children in the community and award 100 $500 scholarships this fall to local students to help them realize their dreams of a college education at Oxnard College. This is in addition to the Charity Challenge, benefiting for local charities.

Santa to the Sea is a nonprofit event borne out of a desire to give back to the community. What started in 2003 as a toy drive to celebrate the relocation of the world's largest Santa Claus from Carpinteria to Oxnard, has grown into a robust running event, toy drive, and community fundraiser. Santa to the Sea includes a sanctioned half marathon and a 2-person half marathon relay, plus 5K run and 1K kids fun runs. The Santa to the Sea Scholarship Fund partners with the Oxnard College Foundation to award $500 scholarships to local high school students and adults continuing their education at Oxnard College.

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