Racing For Kids – Helping Sick Kids Get Better Faster

Racing For Kids® is a unique national charity, which supports children when they are most vulnerable — sick and hospitalized.  Drawing on the popularity of motorsports, Racing For Kids uses its distinctive position within the racing world to bring attention and funding to child health institutions.

At the heart of the RFK program are visits to children’s hospitals around the country by the Racing For Kids celebrity racecar drivers, who spend time with each sick child, telling stories, signing autographs, posing for photographs and giving out the Racing For Kids baseball-style hats, coloring books and posters.  For many hospitalized youngsters, these visits by the racers are the lone bright spot in what is often a rather gloomy experience. Physicians report that our visits play an important part in each child’s recovery therapy by brightening their lives and inspiring them to get better faster

Racing For Kids representatives have visited more than 32,000 sick children in more than 650 hospital visits in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Australia.   The 2016 schedule will include at least 20 visits in children’s hospitals across the country.

Another important aspect of the Racing For Kids program is the funding that has been raised for Children’s Hospitals and other worthy child healthcare institutions across the country.  Since its founding in Detroit in 1989, Racing For Kids has raised more than $7 million through donations, specific fund raising events and in-kind gifts.

Major sponsors of Racing For Kids include Humana, Inc., Bridgestone Firestone Trust Fund, TranSystems, Meridian Health Plan of Michigan, Benson Ford, Jr., Douglas E. Fregin, and the Michael McCallister Charitable Fund.    Toyota Motorsports and The Grand Prix Foundation of Long Beach have made Racing For Kids a major charity of The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. This event contributes up to $100,000 annually to Racing For Kids and to local children’s hospitals.