Brad Reeser had a simple idea: The president of Keller Williams Realty Central Oklahoma was looking to honor Mo Anderson, a valuable member of the KW family. However, what Reeser wasn’t sure of was what to do. His original idea was to raffle off a car and donate the money to a needy charity.   

“I thought we could end it pretty quick and wouldn't take a lot of work,” Reeser says with a chuckle. But we had some agents that said, ‘We want to do something else.’”

Luckily for thousands of people across Edmond and the surrounding area, Reeser decided listened to his agents. His simple idea morphed into the annual Red Day Run, one of the biggest philanthropic events in Edmond, and one that benefits a spectrum local charities.  

“I could never have imagined this,” says Reeser. “This is pretty amazing that we would be here.”  

The idea of turning Anderson’s birthday into a day of giving sprouted from Keller Williams’ annual RED (Renew, Energize and Donate) Day, in which agents, leaders and associates from across the globe use the second Thursday in May to serve in a wide range of volunteer efforts, working with community and nonprofit partners to improve their cities and neighborhoods. This company-wide tradition began in 2009. But Reeser’s office personnel wanted to do something different; they wanted to create something all their own.   

“We started as the Keller Williams Central Oklahoma's version of Red Day, which is an international day of giving back that Keller Williams International does,” says Chase Reeser, who is an agent at his father’s office. “And that's what we used to do until 2014. Then we decided we needed a way to really up our impact on the community and give a bunch of money. So we started a 5k.”  

This year, the 5k run was held Oct. 1 in downtown Edmond, and set a new record for participants with 1,846 runners. That was almost 350 more than the previous year, which came as a surprise to organizers.   

“We kind of got started really late in the game. I think we announced and got rolling in May,” says Chase Reeser. “All the expectations were it was going to be a much smaller year; that we were, we were not going to give out as much money as we did last year. We were surprised. We were happily surprised.”  

In the eight years that the Red Day Run has been around, it has raised more than $1.12 million. That includes $225,00 that was collected this year.   

“Is there one other business that has given a million dollars to charity over the last eight years?” Anderson asked at the annual Red Day Run Breakfast. “I think you will find there is none, except one. Brad, I want to tell you again how much it means to me that you were willing to get this started in your market center.”  

Getting the Red Day Run to that milestone was a goal for Kim Baker when she took over as race director this year.   

“I think most importantly, I wanted to be able to reach the million dollar mark,” says Baker. “I wanted to be able to raise enough money to be able to say we'd given away a million dollars, because there's no other organization in Edmond that's giving away a million dollars in eight years. So, I wanted to make sure that we could have the race and have it be successful.”  

According to Baker, 90 percent of the proceeds go directly to eight main charities, but they split it up on a tier system. When runners register, they have the chance to vote for the charity they’re most moved by. The votes are counted and the money raised is distributed on a pro-rated basis, with the top vote-getter getting the largest share.   

This year’s leading vote-getter was Wings: A Special Needs Community. The organization specializes in helping adults with special needs. Their share of the donations came to $56,200.   

Right behind Wings was the Edmond Public Schools Foundation, which collected $45,000. According to CEO Deana Boston, the collaboration with the Red Day Run has been crucial to its goal to improve the lives of students in Edmond Public Schools.  

“It’s huge for us,” Boston says. “Collaboration with the community is one of our big focuses as a foundation. But specifically, what we’re doing is raising money to support students in the school. We have three focus areas [in] mental health and student support. Our goal is $1.25 million just for that over five years. It’s all about partnerships for us, and leveraging the money that the Red Day Run provides us to turn that into a 5 to 1 to support our schools.”  

The other six charities receiving a portion of the proceeds are the Halo Project, Edmond Mobile Meals, Peppers Ranch, Project 66 Food Pantry, Folds of Honor and OKC Dream Center. Since the charities are locally based, it gives the entire event a more personal feel for those involved.   

“I think it just shows the huge commitment that people in Edmond have for each other, for their own community, for their neighborhoods,” Chase Reeser says. “It's one of the things that I think is really cool — because the first couple years, we actually gave away the [proceeds] to big national franchises. And while yes, that was super impactful, we didn't feel like the community aspect was really there. And these are people whom we see at the grocery store.”  

While 90 percent of the money raised went to the main group, the remaining 10 percent is spread out among Tithe Charities. Groups such as the Edmond Fine Arts Institute, Angel Foster, Project 31, Filling Tummies and North Care received $2,000 checks.  

“Edmond is known to be a fairly wealthy community in the Oklahoma City metro area. And so sometimes need is often unseen,” Baker says. “But the reality is there is a huge need in our community. There's a need for food, there's a need for housing, there are mental health services needed and seniors who are stuck in their homes. So the charities that we have gotten to participate with us, we're trying to make sure that we have enough charities that are touching sort of all the different needs in the community and serving them.”  

Even though organizers reached a new milestone this year, they are not ready to slow down. When 76-year-old Anderson spoke at the Red Day Run Breakfast, she challenged everyone involved to keep growing the event. Her dream is to one day see it reach the point where they are giving away $1 million a year to charities.   

“There's nothing better than giving money away,” Baker said. “I truly believe it's better to give than it is to receive. And there is nothing better than being able to give these charities money and let them take it and put it to good use, serving the very real needs in our community.”