Join us for Game Day!

 

Volunteering Opportunities

Volunteer with Waypoint Adventure

We support Waypoint Adventure in making “Adventure Accessible to All”, by providing financial scholarships.

Have a day filled with joy by volunteering! Upcoming winter events include cross country skiing and indoor rock climbing.

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Past Events

2023 Boston Marathon Weekend

Why we Run

 

2023 Boston Marathon team from left to right .. Martina Corona, Vince Thomas, Michelle Plourde and Chris Tierney

On the 10 year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, our runners ran with resilience and thankfulness to remember Victoria. Thank you to this special team and donors for raising $46,000! Funds raised will provide scholarships to families with special needs to attend Joni and Friends Family Retreats and Waypoint Adventure Programs.

AND THERE’S MORE

Our 5K Team ran crossed the finish line to meet our goal of providing 35 wheelchairs to the Joni and Friends Wheels for the World program. This program is a win-win. Used wheelchairs are donated, refurbished in prisons, and shipped internationally to developing nations. Thanks to all of our runners, their supporters and donors!

Fall Fundraiser Benefits Challenger Clubs

Thank you to our donors and Fall Festival and participants! Together, we raised $20,000 to purchase bicycles for the Adaptive Cycling Program at the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club and contributed to an accessible playground for children with special needs at the Cape Cod Challenger Club.

 

2022 Boston Marathon Weekend

Marathon team from left to right .. Matt Culley, Hanna Polidoro, James Wilcox, Ali Premo and Elizabeth Turpin

Our runners ran with their hearts and with Victoria. Thanks to this amazing team, their cheerleaders and donors we raised $30,000 to provide scholarships to families with special needs to attend Joni and Friends Family Retreats and Waypoint Adventure Programs.

and there’s more

Our 5K Team ran walked and crawled across the finish line to meet our goal of providing 35 wheelchairs to the Joni and Friends Wheels for the World program. Thanks to all of our runners, their supporters and donors!

 
 
 

Congratulations to our 2021 Boston Marathon Team

In October 2021 our team of 4 amazing runners crossed the Boston Marathon finish line with joy! They ran to provide needs based scholarships for individuals with disabilities to participate in life changing programs with Waypoint Adventure.

Together with the funds raised from our Oktoberfest event and online auction, we were delighted to present a check for $25,000 to Waypoint Adventure for financial scholarships.

From bottom left to top right … Connor Ryan, Michael Mercauto, Meg Tuthill and James Colvin

 

Running our hearts out for Joni and Friends

In April we returned to the Boston Commons (virtually) to run the B.A.A. 5K together! We met our goal to sponsor five children and families with special needs to attend a Joni and Friends Summer Family Retreat.

At Family Retreat, families are cared for, encouraged, and rejuvenated in an accessible camp environment. A trained volunteer attends activities with each camper while parents and caregivers attend events worry free.

Families shared with us that this “little slice of heaven” was needed more than ever due to the increased isolation and loss of respite services brought on by COVID. One new family, whose oldest son is 19 years-old, said that this was their first overnight vacation ever!

 
 

Continuing Victoria’s Work with Veterans

FourBlock is an organization we support with a grant for a Veterans Career Readiness Program. Following the Boston Marathon Bombing, Victoria volunteered as a FourBlock career coach for Career Readiness Programs in Boston, attending the weekly classes and working with veterans individually to ensure each of them were successful in beginning meaningful new careers.

In Victoria’s memory, FourBlock established the Victoria McGrath Service Award that is awarded each year at an annual reception.

 

Day of Service at Carter School

Our Day of Service prepared the Carter School for their Summer Program. It was a lot of fun putting on our gardening gloves, and working together to spiff up the Sensory Garden.

Thanks to all of you, we were able to donate $10,000 to the Carter School to update the sensory garden with new tables and updated water fixtures. The students and staff at Carter school were thrilled!

 

Batter Up for the Challengers League ⚾️

Team Victoria McGrath Foundation was delighted to be a sponsor for the Westport Challengers League, where children with disabilities play a full season of baseball with the help of buddies.

Thank you for your donations which make this possible!

 

2019 Boston Marathon Weekend

On Marathon Weekend we ran for children with special needs and their families. We met our goal to sponsor 5 families with special needs to attend a refreshing week at Joni and Friends Family Retreat, and made a meaningful contribution to updating the sensory garden at the Carter School in Boston.

Joni and Friends Family Retreats offer a haven for special needs families where they are encouraged and rejuvenated in a fully accessible camp environment.  Families look forward to this respite for 51 weeks a year. 

The Carter School is a Boston Public School located on the border of Boston’s Lower Roxbury and South End neighborhoods.  Ranging in age from 12 to 22, Carter students have both severe, intensive disabilities and complex health needs. The school is a bright haven for children and their families. In the sensory garden, students learn, play, and plant vegetables in a quiet protected place.

Thanks for running with us, and supporting our runners!

 

Cinco de Mayo Party

Thanks for joining us at the Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Bell in Hand Boston to raise funding for the Carter School in Boston. The Carter School educates children with severe, intensive disabilities.

Together, we raised $10,000 to update the sensory garden. Thanks to our amazing sponsors and all of you that attended to the event and volunteered!

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Teaming up

On Memorial Day weekend, the "golden feet" of the Weston Adult Soccer League held their annual tournament to raise funds with us for local charities. Seventy members played their hearts out for three games, and children participated in a penalty shoot out.

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Funds raised through player donations and the generous support of corporate sponsorships, supported the following charities:

The Prospector Theater

The Prospector provides meaningful employment to people with disabilities through the operation of a premium, first-run movie theater in Ridgefield CT.

The employees, known as Prospects live a higher quality of life through meaningful employment, and are encouraged to sparkle, shine, and turn their passions into professions.

 
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Child Guidance Center of Mid-Fairfield County

Mental health issues such as anxiety, eating, and mood disorders affect 20% of all children and represent one of the most common life-limiting challenges faced by children. Without early intervention, many of these children are at risk of suffering serious life-long consequences. The Child Guidance Center serves as the safety net for thousands of families that are unable to afford private mental health services for their children.

 
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Joni and Friends

In honor of Victoria’s love for children with disabilities, team Victoria McGrath Foundation laced up to complete the B.A.A. 5K, and her best friend ran the Boston Marathon.

We sponsored five families to attend Joni and Friends Family Retreat in New England. Family retreats offer a haven for special needs families where they are encouraged and rejuvenated in a fully accessible camp environment. Thanks to your amazing generosity we were also able to donate 26 restored wheel chairs to individuals in need worldwide.

 
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Where Angels Play, Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester

Volunteers spent the weekend celebrating Victoria's life building a playground in her honor at the Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester, MA. Jimmy Plourde, Victoria's first responder in the marathon bombing, and now dear friend initiated the project with Where Angels Play. Hundreds of children now play in this special place. 

“Victoria is doing another great thing here. This is Victoria here, this is her giving back to the community,” Boston Mayor Marty Walsh 

“This is not about tragedy, this is about my friend. This is about a friend that came and changed my life.”Jimmy Plourde

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Cesar Batalla Playground, Bridgeport CT

Our town of Weston, and the local Kiwanis rallied around us and uplifted Victoria by building a playground in her memory at Cesar Batalla in Bridgeport CT. This is the largest elementary school in CT that now has it's first playground for young children.

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