Bridge the Gap to Health Race Raises More than $50K for Catholic Charities’ MedAssist Program

July 28, 2021

For over two decades, Quin­cy Med­ical Group’s (QMG) Bridge the Gap to Health Race has brought peo­ple from near and far togeth­er to sup­port local patients to help them afford their pre­scrip­tion medications.

After last year’s race went vir­tu­al due to COVID-19 con­cerns, the 2021 Bridge the Gap to Health Race was back in-per­son this year rais­ing a total of $50,418.14 for the Quin­cy Catholic Char­i­ties’ MedAs­sist pro­gram. On July 26, race orga­niz­ers with QMG pre­sent­ed a check to rep­re­sen­ta­tives from Quin­cy Catholic Char­i­ties. Since the race began, the event has raised more than $930,000 for MedAs­sist, which has been used to access near­ly 59,000 prescriptions.

“For 21 years, Bridge the Gap has pro­vid­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty to gath­er togeth­er in the spir­it of help­ing oth­ers,” said QMG Direc­tor of Com­mu­ni­ty Rela­tions Mor­gan Park­er. ​“After a year of a vir­tu­al-only race, it was so spe­cial to be togeth­er again to help those who rely on the MedAs­sist pro­gram for their life­sav­ing prescriptions.”

Quin­cy Catholic Char­i­ties Area Direc­tor Jack­ie Bruns said, ​“Quin­cy Catholic Char­i­ties is hum­bled to accept the pro­ceeds from the Bridge the Gap to Health Race for the 21st year. Fol­low­ing a tough fundrais­ing year due to COVID, we are elat­ed to receive such a large amount! What a bless­ing this race is to Quin­cy Catholic Char­i­ties and to each and every client who has received assis­tance through the MedAs­sist Pro­gram,” Bruns said. ​“We are so grate­ful to Quin­cy Med­ical Group, all the major spon­sors, the race par­tic­i­pants, and the ded­i­cat­ed vol­un­teers for ​‘bridg­ing the gap’ for so many peo­ple in our community.

In addi­tion to rais­ing funds for MedAs­sist, race par­tic­i­pants were also asked to bring a canned food item. A total of 417 pounds of food were col­lect­ed and donat­ed to five local food pantries.

“Food inse­cu­ri­ty is a grow­ing unmet need in our com­mu­ni­ty, and we were so grate­ful for all those who sup­port­ed us in assist­ing our local food pantries in their mis­sion to help,” said Parker.

Pro­ceeds from the event come from a com­bi­na­tion of reg­is­tra­tion fees, dona­tions, and spon­sors. Spon­sors of this year’s race were Adams Coun­ty Med­ical Soci­ety Alliance, Bank of Spring­field, Bless­ing Health Sys­tem, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Dot Foods, Gard­ner Den­ver, Her­ald-Whig, Hy-Vee, Kohl’s Whole­sale, Memo­r­i­al Hos­pi­tal, Mer­can­tile Bank, Nie­mann Foods, Quin­cy Recy­cle, Quin­cy Uni­ver­si­ty, Refresh­ment Ser­vices Pep­si, Repub­lic Ser­vices, Selby’s Imple­ment, SIU Fam­i­ly Med­i­cine Cen­ter, State Street Bank, Sun­belt Rentals, Town­square Media (Y101 & Kick FM), WGEM, and Winter’s Insurance.

The 2022 race is set for May 14, 2022. For more infor­ma­tion about Bridge the Gap to Health Race, vis­it www​.brid​geth​e​gap​to​health​.com.