ANN ARBOR-The day Brendan LaFrenier visited Wyoming Park Family Shelter near Grand Rapids to share his goal of running 200 miles to raise money for homeless people, Jim Davis thought it was a cool idea.
But would it really happen? And could running turn into donations?
"The experience with Brendan and his team was great," said Davis, vice president of business development for Family Promise of West Michigan. "And now we're just sort of marveling at the fact that he actually did it and that families are benefiting. This is real 'difference-making' dollars for us."
LaFrenier, who graduated from the University of Michigan in May, ran and raised some serious money. In just four days in March, he ran 200 miles across Michigan-from Lake St. Clair northeast of Detroit to Lake Michigan in Holland. He raised more than $33,000 for 10 homeless shelters in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Lansing and Grand Rapids.
"Brendan raised awareness of homelessness in Michigan through an amazing physical feat, but he did it intentionally with a great team that helped spread a message to bring eyes to the issue," Davis said.
Wyoming Park, which has room for 11 families, features an outdoor playground, a large kitchen, pantry and dining room, shared bathrooms, a laundry room, play areas and a TV room filled with couches and plush beanbag chairs for relaxing.
The shelter received $6,000-money that is already being used to help families avoid homelessness, Davis said.
"It was those dollars that we use on the front end to prevent families from having to go into shelter because it is so much cheaper," Davis said. "Sometimes $500 is the difference that keeps a family from missing that one utility bill.
"Most of the people that we find entering into a shelter experience are employed, might have dual incomes in the house. What they're experiencing is something that they couldn't predict. It's always something unexpected. Our priority is to keep that family together."
'You need a greater why'
LaFrenier, who grew up in Grand Rapids, started volunteering at local homeless shelters after he saw someone experience homelessness. As he grew into adulthood, he realized that he could do something more than volunteer.
With his friend and U-M alum Nick DelFranco, LaFrenier co-founded Endurance for Change, which combines endurance, filmmaking and community service. They met in their freshman year at the South Quad dorm.
LaFrenier's entry into distance running was inspired by a challenge from a friend. He played baseball in high school, but when the friend told him "you won't last a day at cross country," he signed up.
"I was never the fastest, but I enjoyed going far. I found the further we went in workouts, I would start passing people and I was always really competitive, so it kind of fueled me," he said.
LaFrenier went on to run two marathons, one Ironman triathlon and four ultramarathons. He was helped along the way by Shane Malaski-his high school cross country coach, who also coached him for the race across Michigan.
"If it was just for me, I would quit. But doing it for homelessness was just kind of that reason I needed," LaFrenier said. "You need something that's much bigger than yourself. You need a greater why."
The "why" is the more than 24,000 Michigan residents who entered into homelessness in 2024, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
LaFrenier noted that it got complicated fundraising for 10 different organizations. With the large amounts of money coming in, they thought about establishing nonprofit status, but decided instead to find a fiscal sponsor. The Michigan Coalition of Homelessness handled the fundraising, accounting and distribution to the shelters, he said.
Documenting the run
DelFranco, who majored in film and philosophy, is working with a team that includes faculty from the U-M Department of Film, Television, and Media, on a feature-length documentary about the run and the endurance it took to make it happen. It's expected to be released in the fall.
DelFranco and the film crew followed LaFrenier on his run from Lake St. Clair to Lake Michigan and his stops at homeless shelters along the way. One team filmed from the back of a pickup truck and one was in a car following him.
"And I also got in and filmed him in the RV while his crew was taking care of him at different pit stops," DelFranco said. "We also filmed him running through the shelters, meeting all the people at the shelters. Some of the shelters had different events for him. People had signs. It was really, really cool."
The journey was grueling. The days started before dawn at 4 a.m. Once his team had wrapped his legs and toes and worked on his legs with massagers. Then he would run for about 15 hours with breaks for foods, fluids and more leg massages.
"It was a whole operation. You can't really do one of these alone. And so I had two of my hometown friends, high school friends, actually neighbors from where I grew up, kind of crew me. And they've done some of that before, making sure my body's OK and pretty much ensure I'm alive."
At night, he'd put his feet up for about eight hours and he would try to sleep.
"The first day, I did a run-walk strategy. I mean, it's virtually impossible to run for 200 miles straight like that," LaFrenier said.
He covered more than 60 miles on the first day, about 50 miles on the second, 40 on the third and around 50 on the final day.
The documentary will have a film festival run across Michigan before being released.
