The CHIditarod · since 2006
I founded the Midwest's most-loved hunger-fighting cart race.
The CHIditarod is a costumed shopping-cart race through the streets of Chicago that has raised $1.23M in cash and collected 314K lbs of food for local hunger relief across 21 years. I founded it. I'm still its president. It is, by any honest measure, the most enduring thing I've made.
$1.23M
Raised since 2006
In cash for Chicago hunger relief.
$828K
Granted to partners
Distributed to Chicago food-relief organizations.
314K
Pounds of food
Collected from racers across every year.
3,949
Volunteers
Counted across the full history.
9,105
Racers
Pushing carts through Chicago streets.
Source: live from chiditarod.org/stats - updated Jun 13, 2026
What I learned
Scaling a volunteer institution.
It started as a one-off prank. A few dozen friends, costumes, shopping carts, beer, and a vague gesture toward collecting food for the local pantry. Twenty years later, it raises more than the entire annual budget of many established Chicago nonprofits.
Running it taught me that volunteer institutions are real institutions. They need governance, rituals, succession plans, financial controls, insurance policies, city permits, and a leadership pipeline. They also need the original spark to never quite calcify into bureaucracy.
The other thing it taught me, every single year, is that people are starving for a chance to make something together. Give them a structure that takes them seriously and they will move mountains. Or shopping carts. Or a million dollars' worth of food.
Consulting
Helping community organizations get to lift-off.
I help new community organizations get incorporated, get their tax exemption, navigate city hall, and find their first hundred volunteers. I've made every mistake at least once, which makes me cheaper than a lawyer and faster than a board retreat.
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501(c)(3) formation & filing
Incorporation, EIN, bylaws, 1023, state registrations - without the law-firm hourly rate.
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Municipal partnerships
Special-event permits, parks-district relationships, alderman conversations, insurance riders.
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Founder coaching
When you're three years in and need a sane outside voice that's done this before.
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Volunteer operations
Onboarding, retention, leadership pipelines, governance structure for groups that don't want to feel like a corporation.