Mission 500 surpasses fundraising goals at ISC West

Mission 500, a 501c3 charitable organization born from the professional security industry to serve children and families in need across the U.S., raised over $145,000 at its 10th annual Security 5K/2K Run/Walk at this year's ISC West show, April 9-12 in Las Vegas.

Mission 500 Founder George Fletcher told Security Systems News during a video interview at ISC West that the organization was able to surpass this year's goal thanks to “sponsor support, signed up runners and individual fundraisers — our three primary sources of revenue — and our volunteers.”

Fletcher pointed out that Mission 500 relies heavily on volunteers, and had around 20 who showed up at five in the morning to help set up the race. “They come out every year and are passionate about what they are doing to help children and families,” he said.

Tom Nolan, director, strategic partnerships for Mission 500, added, “We had amazing volunteers — I think that was the best part of it for me.”

Some of the proceeds from this year's 5K/2K event have already been put to great use during ISC West 2019 with volunteer and monetary donations made to Habitat for Humanity in Las Vegas to help provide a family in need with a new home, and a Mission 500 Care Pack drive during the event sponsored by HID Global, Freeman and the ISC West Security Events team.

 “We are extremely thrilled at how the security industry continues to band together to and raise money for children and families in need,” Mission 500 Chairman of the Board Tim Purpura said. “The 10th anniversary of the Mission 5K/2K event was our most successful single event to date, and we are extremely grateful to all of the participants, volunteers and sponsors that made this wonderful event possible.”

The Mission 500 Club, which recognizes volunteers who raise $500 or more, had 12 members at this year's 5K/2K that raised a combined $21,000. Ronnie Pennington of Altronix was the top fundraiser with $4,425 in pledged donations, followed by Nick Arthur of Brinks Home Security™ with $1,130, which was matched by his employer for a total of $2,825. The top fundraising team was Brink's Home Security, which raised a total of $15,331.

This year's fastest female was Karen Salerno of ISC Events with a time of 21:07. The fastest male and overall winner was Mitchell Vanderhagen of Everbridge, who completed the 5K course in 18:23. Complete race times can be found at https://elementalracetiming.com/the-security-5k-2019/.

At the Mission 500 5K/2K awards ceremony, this year's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award was presented to Brinks Home Security for their outstanding philanthropic work through the year. Dave Foglio, Founder of First Response Security, received the Mission 500 Humanitarian Award for his outstanding charitable work.

Hikvision's General Manager Eric Chen, and the Hikvision team, also increased their corporate social responsibility efforts at ISC West 2019 by donating an additional $860 to Mission 500 on behalf of all industry partners in attendance at their partner celebration at Tao.

The Security 5K/2K is a joint collaboration organized by United Publications, the publisher of Security Systems News, ISC Events and Mission 500. Confirmed charter sponsors include Alarm.com, Altronix Corporation, Avigilon, Axis Communications, Bosch Security Systems, Brinks Home Security, CMAC, COPS Monitoring, Dahua Technology, DITEK Corporation, DMP, Freeman, Galaxy Control Systems, HID Global, LENSEC, Hikvision, Intelligent Security Systems (ISS), LRG Marketing Communications, Milestone Systems, Napco Starlink Fire, PSA Security Network, Safety Technology International, Inc., and ZKTecko USA. The event is managed by Las Vegas Running Company, a race management company that stages approximately 25 road races each year across Southern Nevada.

For more information on Mission 500, contact Tom Nolan at tnolan@mission500.com or call 516-903-7291.