Credit Unions (CU) Kids at Heart Prepares for the 2025 Boston Marathon

For the 26th consecutive year, dozens of credit unions from throughout the Northeast will collaborate to sponsor a team of credit union runners in the most challenging and prestigious road race in the world, the Boston Marathon.

The 2025 CU Kids at Heart Team consists of eight runners and their young patient partners from Boston Children’s Hospital, one of the leading pediatric care facilities in the U.S., and beneficiary of the CU Kids at Heart Foundation’s annual fundraising activities.  To date, CU Kids at Heart has raised more than $9 million which has been used to fund numerous hospital research projects and initiatives.

CU Kids at Heart was organized in the mid-1990s by Eastern Corporate Federal Credit Union (EasCorp) and quickly became a favorite public service activity of the local credit union community.

Runners train rigorously all winter long for the Boston Marathon, which next takes place on Patriots’ Day, Monday, April 21, 2025.  And in what has become a hugely popular ritual, Team runners meet their patient partners just several hundred yards from the finish line in order to absorb wide smiles and cheers and lift their spirits across the finish line. It’s been rumored, though never confirmed, that their feet no longer touch the ground for the remainder of the race.

The CU Kids at Heart Team runners, their patient partners and sponsor credit unions are:

• Angie Lauder, first-time runner with CU Kids at Heart. Angie is partnered with Matt Bridges and sponsored by Stewart’s Federal Credit Union of Saratoga Springs, NY.
• Brenna Lorenzen, first-time runner with CU Kids at Heart. Brenna is partnered with Maddy Loftus and sponsored by Jeanne D'Arc Credit Union, Lowell, MA.
• Evan Lowell, first-time runner with CU Kids at Heart. Evan is partnered with Vraj Purohit and Kyaire Andrews and sponsored by EasCorp and Vertifi Software, Burlington, MA.
• Dr. Ed Smith of Boston Children’s, fifth-time runner for the CU Kids at Heart Team.  Ed is paired once again this year with Everett Chase.
• Johan Romero Luna, first-time runner with CU Kids at Heart. Johan is partnered with Ryan Clough and Tim Stevens and sponsored by Hanscom Federal Credit Union, Littleton, MA.    
• Jon Holso, first-time runner with CU Kids at Heart. Jon is partnered with Jack Ciaccio and sponsored by Granite State Credit Union, Manchester, NH.
• Kevin Dobson, first-time runner with CU Kids at Heart. Kevin is partnered with Isla Saunders and sponsored by Service Credit Union, Portsmouth, NH.
• Michelle McGee, first-time runner with CU Kids at Heart. Michelle is partnered with Anthony Micalizzi, Jr. and sponsored by Digital Federal Credit Union, Marlborough, MA.

Speaking of the Team’s runners, CU Kids at Heart Foundation Chair, Jane Melchionda said, “They run to raise money for life-saving research and care. They run for the love of their patient partners. None of them are favored to win. All of them are champions.”