With the First Light Marathon, Half Marathon and Five Person Relay just weeks away, runners across the Mobile area were deep into training for the downtown race, which doubles as a fundraiser for a local nonprofit serving adults with intellectual disabilities.
Proceeds from race entries support L’Arche Mobile, a community that allows adults with intellectual disabilities to live and work alongside team members who assist them daily. The organization includes roughly two dozen core members supported by around fifty team members who help with daily living and community engagement.
Organizers with L’Arche Mobile said the relationships built between core members and team members are central to the program’s mission, with participants working together and discovering one another’s strengths throughout the year. Those relationships extend into the group’s craft work, including handmade medals and award plaques given to First Light finishers each January.
Core members begin creating the race medals for the following year’s event as early as July, according to the group’s activity center coordinator. This year, L’Arche Mobile’s craft operation expanded beyond the local race, filling medal and plaque orders for events not only around Alabama but also in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Southern California and Kansas after other race organizers admired the handcrafted awards used at First Light.
Beyond athletic medals, the L’Arche Mobile activity center stayed busy during the holiday season with a longstanding tradition of handmade Christmas card production. One volunteer leading the effort said the group had already completed more than a thousand cards for the season and welcomed additional orders for any holiday occasion in exchange for a donation.
L’Arche Mobile continues to welcome volunteers throughout the year to support both its craft programs and daily community activities. Organizers encouraged residents interested in getting involved, whether through race participation, card orders or volunteering, to reach out directly to the organization.
As training plans for the marathon continued across the city, race organizers encouraged participants to track their weekly mileage goals leading up to race day, with the event remaining one of downtown Mobile’s most anticipated winter traditions.