Our Journey
How a fundraiser became a movement.
Run 4 Awareness Guam grew out of a community run that had been quiet for years. This is where it started, who it honors, and where it is going.
It was reinstated as a fundraiser to support community work, and there was one open date left on the island’s crowded race calendar: a weekend in November.
So the community stepped in. A group of volunteers took it on and started digging into the history. The island’s running community said the diabetes run had faded out years earlier, around 2012, after the Guam Diabetes Association had carried it for fourteen years.
After meeting Miss Winnie, the founder’s wife, it stopped being just a fundraiser. It became the thing itself: her late husband’s run, brought back and carried forward by people who did not want to see it end.
Why Run 4 Awareness exists
The diabetes run is the start, not the whole plan. “Run 4 Awareness” is a permanent name so the same effort can keep going year after year, carry a new awareness theme each time, and one day support more than one cause. Run by the community, for the community.
The run honors him.
Carl Butler
A Vietnam veteran, active in the Jaycees, and president of the Guam Diabetes Association for 20 years. He ran the island’s Diabetes Awareness 5K for 14 years before it went quiet.
In 2023 the run came back in his name. We keep his name on it.
The timeline.
The Guam Diabetes Association held the Diabetes Fun Run, Walk & Wheel for 14 years, with Carl Butler leading it. The vault →
The run went quiet. About a decade with no Diabetes Awareness Run on Guam.
The Brotherhood of Veterans Motorcycle Club brought it back in Carl’s honor. Morning 2K and 5K at Chamoru Village. Read the 2023 revival recap →
“The Vision.” Bigger field, more sponsors, more divisions, another check to the Guam Diabetes Association. Read the 2024 recap →
The run took a year off.
Back at the community’s asking. “Sight in Motion,” a sunset start, eye health, free screening, and island youth at the center. Details →
Put on a safe, welcoming community run and walk that raises diabetes awareness, brings free screening to the island, honors the people who started this, and supports Guam’s youth.
- A registered organization with its own nonprofit status
- A year-round resource for diabetes information on Guam
- An annual awareness campaign that can change focus each year
- A run that other organizations want to be part of, not compete with