Steel Smiling Champion Raises $10,000 for the organization

This past May, Jennifer Mathias ran the Pittsburgh Marathon and raised money for Steel Smiling in the process.

Jennifer has followed Steel Smiling’s journey for nearly its entire existence, even recalling the very first time she learned of the organization on Twitter (now X). Always a big advocate for mental health and wellness, she has stayed connected to Steel Smiling and its mission since then.

Jennifer has also been an avid runner for many years.

“Running is so much more than running to me,” she said, emphasizing the nuances in the activity. “When you run for an organization where you know the people, you know their names, you know their faces, it takes on a different meaning.”

She’s run several halves and 2 full marathons since 2017, always raising money for her favorite charities and organizations as part of the process. She’d been successful in her fundraising efforts before, often raising up to $2,500.

When deciding which cause to dedicate her marathon run to for 2025, Jennifer knew that she wanted to support Steel Smiling. While the Pittsburgh Marathon has official charities for which runners can sign up to raise money for, a small portion of runners “do their own thing,” and promote smaller organizations.

After meeting with Julius Boatwright, Founding Director of Steel Smiling, last summer to pitch her ideas, she set an ambitious fundraising goal - $10,000 – to represent A Decade of Black Mental Health and celebrate Steel’s 10-year anniversary.

On the day of the race, Jennifer hit that $10,000 fundraising goal!

When asked how she did it, Jennifer replied: “A lot of hard work.”

For months, Jennifer raised money primarily through her personal networks on social media. She held creative online campaigns, such as a special mile sponsorship, asking donors to sponsor each of her 26 miles. During each sponsor’s mile, she’d think of them and dedicate that mile to their generosity. She also held a birthday fundraiser, asked family and friends directly, and even hosted a donation-based yoga class.

She also reflected on something Julius once said about gaining support for the work. “He said it was when persistence meets generosity. To steal his words….I really do think it [raising the money] was persistence meeting generosity.”

Jennifer was excited to see the impact of these dollars in her own city, sharing that she believes mental health and wellness is a huge part of healthy communities.

“You can never truly be at your best until those needs are met, where they could and should be.”

She said that in doing this, it was about more than the fundraising itself, but about advocacy and opening the doors for conversation. Whether they donated or not, people would ask questions about Steel Smiling.

“I think people feel so helpless, and they don’t know what to do so they just don’t do anything. I just wanted to show people you can do your own thing and that’s totally cool and valid.”

THANK YOU, Jennifer, for raising funds and awareness for the work of Steel Smiling. We are grateful for your support every day!