Santa to the Sea announces ‘celebrity’ team captains and trophy for its Charity Challenge

OXNARD, Calif. - Nov. 18, 2013 - PRLog -- OXNARD, Calif.—For a third year in a row, people participating in Santa to the Sea’s (http://www.santatothesea.com) half marathon, two-person relay or 5K races can take the Charity Challenge and help raise funds for one of five local charities while running or walking at the Dec. 8 event. And for the team that helps raise the most money: a two-foot tall perpetual trophy to display for one year. This year’s charities include FOOD Share of Ventura County, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme, Interface Children & Family Services, Gull Wings Children’s Museum and United Way of Ventura County.

Charities have designated various elected officials as their team captains who will be running in the race and helping them raise money. Team captains include Supervisor Kathy Long and Chief-of-Staff Martin Hernandez for Interface Children and Family Services; Supervisor John Zaragoza for United Way of Ventura County; Assemblyman Jeff Gorell for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Oxnard and Port Hueneme; and State Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Fiona Ma and Oxnard Harbor Commissioner Jason Hodge for Gull Wings Children’s Museum.

Each of the five charities offers unique incentives to people wanting to help raise funds to keep them motivated and reward their efforts. Incentives are listed on the individual charities team pages and include items such as free entries, gear and prizes.

“Santa to the Sea began as a way to bring toys to underprivileged children in Ventura County. We also raise money for scholarships for students to attend Oxnard College,” said Mike Barber, founder of Santa to the Sea and race organizer. “The Charity Challenge is one more way race participants can give back to their community.”

Who are you going to run with? Participants must register for the race before they can begin fundraising for their charity team. Once registered, participants are directed to an online fundraising program, allowing them to choose which charity they’d like to raise funds for, send emails to friends and family to ask for support, post pictures and edit fundraising goals. Charity challenge runners can then ask friends, family or anyone to help donate money to their designated charity in the race. But, you don't have to run to help one of the charities, you can just choose a charity and donate during the race.

For more information about the nonprofit Santa the Sea half-marathon, two person relay, 5K run and the Charity Challenge, or to register visit www.santatothesea.com.

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 run. 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.