Racing Hearts

I'm so delighted to support Racing Hearts, and thankful that a dear friend is part of the RH community. I know how much it means to her, and to the many people (and their loved ones) who benefit from its support. Giving is important to my family, and we are proud of the impact RH delivers with our contribution!

Our family volunteers for Racing Hearts because we are passionate about their main causes: raising funds to get AEDs placed in under-served communities and teaching people how to use AEDs. Racing Hearts is also very active in working with lawmakers to raise awareness about the importance of AEDs and to change laws so that AEDs can be more accessible to more people.

Racing Hearts is a true blessing in today's world where we have seen young Students and Athletes whose life could have been saved but for a timely access to an AED. The founder Stephanie is extremely passionate about her work and has been working tirelessly in installing AED devices where needed specially in schools and sporting events. Racing hearts efforts on creating awareness and educating on proper use of AED has saved many lives.
They are doing a great service to our community and we cannot thank enough for the work they are doing and hope it continues to grow.

This organization is doing great work saving lives and its measurable. I couldn't be more proud to be associated with this organization.

This charity is doing great work and has accomplished an astounding amount in their efforts to save lives in our community. We are all better off for their tireless work.

I've been involved with this non-profit for almost 1.5 years - brick-by-brick the organization has had a number of major programatic and legislative victories, including an AED save with a middle school student at Cupertino Union School District. They are doing very important work locally and nationally, and I'm grateful for their service.

They are saving many lives through awareness, AED placement and policy changes.

Tremendous how this organization is helping save lives, spreading AED's around the community to reduce deaths!

This is a wonderful organization that donates much needed AEDs throughout the community.

Great organization with a real passion and laser focus to make our local schools safer by making AED's available to them.

Whenever I rank charities the first thing I focus on their efficiency and how much they do to advance their mission vs other things. In this category Racing Hearts is one of the best. Their events are GREAT but frugally put together. The lions share of their spending is targeted directly at the things that matter... getting life saving devices in public places where they can do the most good. What an amazingly well run charity that makes an IMPACT.

Incredible organization focused on community education, awareness and care. I hold Racing Hearts in the highest regard for their accomplishments, and pursistance toward excellence.

Nonprofits aimed at addressing a health care need often face the challenge of educating donors using abstractions in how their mission serves the public. Racing Hearts provides a concrete and immediate service: distributing automated external defibrillators (AEDs) into the community for use by bystanders who witness cardiac arrest. I've been in the position of doing CPR for the long minutes it took for paramedics to arrive, when an available AED could have made the resuscitation more efficient and effective. I got involved in the first Racing Hearts run, an annual event I look forward to. I am pleased to see how the event has grown and been embraced by the community, and especially pleased to see attendance by so many families who have had loved ones saved by the use of AEDs.

Well planned friendle people. Wonderful cause. Will defiantly be back next year.

Great cause and they put on a great and inspirational 5/10K race!

I participated in the Racing Hearts 5k at Stanford on March 26. I was impressed by the organization of the event and enthusiasm of the planners and volunteers. I used to work for Special Olympics, so I've attended many charity organized athletic events. This one was class. It was great to be part of a community dedicated to improving access to life saving medical devices. I look forward to joining the 5k again next year.

I participated in the 5k and had an amazing and uplifting experience. The energy at the event was phenomenal as the participants ranged from doctors to nurses and survivors to their families and friends -- these are people who truly care about the mission of the non-profit and it was abundantly clear how appreciative everybody there was of the support. How fantastic to have an event and organization where people are so deeply invested!

Well organized, every one was friendly and helpful. Nice flare course

Palo Alto Little League requested a grant for AED installation and training at our location. Racing Hearts was fantastic to work with, and provided great support and training for our volunteers. The program is an incredible and lifesaving gift to the community.

Racing Hearts is a wonderful organization making a huge impact in the community (over 500 AEDs placed and over 1M people served). They are committed to heart care through ensuring AEDs are easily accessible.

The organization is hard working, transparent and financially responsible. I appreciate how committed everyone is to the mission, especially the founder who is very passionate to the cause.

Over the years, I have been asked to join the boards of many worthy organizations. As a sports medicine physician, one of my missions has been to ensure that we educate all coaches on CPR and AED use and place AEDs into our schools. When I was asked to join the board of Racing Hearts, and after reviewing its mission and meeting with its founder, it was a no-brainer for me. I have been very pleased and proud of my involvement as a board member. What Racing Hearts has been able to accomplish in such a short time period, with alot of volunteer effort and a shared passion and commitment to provide AEDs to communities, is nothing short of amazing.

I've been a board member for 2.5 years. This is an incredible non-profit that saves lives every day by providing life-saving technology (AEDs) to the community. AEDs can be used by anyone and everyone deserves access to this life-saving technology. Raving Hearts places AEDs throughout the community including underserved populations. I'm proud to make my community safer. The organization spends all of its money on programs and has no staff or office. Racing Hearts provides an amazing return on the investment of my time and donations.

I am proud to be a healthcare provider and an active member of this organization. I am inspired to REACH into communities with the help of Racing Hearts and to contribute to an effort that is proactive, empowering and protective. Racing Hearts works with communities to save lives and I am proud to be part of this organization.

Racing Hearts was instrumental in helping provide AEDs in all of our 41 schools as well as our district office. As a result of our partnership we are able to increase the safety of our 32,000 students, 3,000 employees and the hundreds of visitors to our campuses.

Racing Hearts assisted Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District in obtaining 20 AEDs and associated equipment for use in our ranger patrol trucks and offices in Santa Clara County.

The staff were very professional and clearly are passionate about promoting cardiac safety. We appreciated working with such dedicated people, and the work which they do. I highly recommend them as a partner in this life-saving work.

Gordon Baillie
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District

Racing Hearts worked diligently with the Berryessa Union School District to facilitate the installation of AED's at all 15 of our sites. They offered three free training sessions for all staff. Angie Scott presented an excellent and informative orientation / training for our all staff welcome back event which helped to educate and empower our staff to save lives if / when the need arises. I have only positive things to say regarding the Racing Hearts organization.

Stephanie has moved mountains to get AEDs into our communities. Racing Hearts spearheaded the California legislation (SB658) that made AED ownership less onerous, thus removing barriers and lessening fears for schools and other organizations to purchase the equipment and learn lifesaving skills. What she has accomplished with regard to raising awareness about Sudden Cardiac Arrest and the need for AEDs is amazing, especially given the short amount of time Racing Hearts has been a non-profit organization.

This organization is top-notch! They are helping Downtown Palo Alto businesses educate their employees on how to perform CPR, which will help save lives. Our company has purchased defibrillators through Racing Hearts and had them installed in the lobbies of numerous office buildings that we manage, which is also helping to save lives. Some of our employees personally witnessed a man fall out of his truck onto the sidewalk across the street from our building and he died from a heart attack. If we would have had a defibrillator in our office at that time we may have been able to save his life. We cannot thank Racing Hearts enough for the work they are doing.

They appear to run a lean organization to ensure that proceeds go to the right cause. Almost everyone can benefit from the organization's mission.

I became involved with Racing Hearts after my nephew's life was save by an AED last year. Wonderful people, responsive, appreciative and doing life saving work. It's comforting knowing that any donation I provide is going towards preventing a future tragedy. Thank you Racing Hearts!

The City of Campbell Police Department recently worked with Racing Hearts on a project to bring additional AED's to all our patrol vehicles. Racing Hearts did a magnificent job of coordinating this project from start to finish and provided all the necessary equipment ahead of schedule. It was wonderful to work with some very passionate professionals to obtain this vital equipment for our police department.

Captain Joe Cefalu

I was honored to be invited by Racing Hearts to be a Board Member and to help them as they work to save lives by placing AEDs in our community. This is a tremendous and fulfilling endeavor. Through the determination of our founder Stephanie Martinson, many schools and building locations in Santa Clara County are installing AEDs today. To do this, Racing Hearts not only helped change the laws in California to make installation easier, but Racing Hearts continues to partner with local governments and donors to raise money for schools, clinics, police cars and recreation centers (just to name a few) so that communities all over the SF Bay Area will benefit from these life saving AED devices.

The personnel associated with Racing Hearts were personable and professional throughout the experience. They assessed the needs of our organization and met our objectives. The AED and accompanying equipment was top notch and relevant to our needs including: the AED device, personal protective equipment and protective carry case,. Thank you Racing Hearts.

Racing Hearts helped me evaluate what my organization needed and how I could cost-effectively get the equipment in need.
Stephanie provided to me (literally) life-saving information.
Thank you!

Racing Hearts is taking a proactive approach for making our community safer by placing AEDs in the communities. Stephanie has made numerous connections with the right people to raise funds for the Santa Clara County Supervisors matching AED grant program that is getting started January 2016. Racing Hearts are making the dream come true of having AEDs as common as fire extinguishers.

The AED info signs are eye catching and it contains easy to understand information. They make using an AED "Not so scary after all".

The Racing Hearts team is committed to their mission of Saving Lives with AED's. They have been an outstanding organization to work with. Fun group of people, very inclusive and focused. I am making new friends for life.

Thank you very much Stephanie! Your dedication and service is remarkable! We would love to have you again for future editions of the Race for Literacy. Thank you for doing this!

Great people and a great cause! AED awareness and placement.

I have had a wonderful experience volunteering with the amazing Racing Hearts organization over the last year, and through them I have learned so much about the importance of AEDs in the community. Racing Hearts approaches this issue on many fronts, including leveraging funds to place AEDs, raising community awareness of AEDs through their AEDspotter app, and lending AEDs to community sports events. Their mission couldn't be more important (saving lives!), and I'm proud to call myself a supporter!

This is a great non profit! Everyone is very energetic and excited. I thoroughly enjoyed volunteering with this organization. The message they are trying to send is very important.

I recently volunteered for an event held by Racing Hearts to raise money for heart research at Stanford University and it was such a positive experience. They're a well run non-profit working hard to raise the visibility and the availability of AEDs.

This organization offers incredible bang-for-your-buck, pairing top-notch expertise and know-how with little/no bureaucracy. Racing Hearts is truly all about the mission--saving lives with AEDs--and their results prove it.

Stephanie is a walking encyclopedia about AEDs and puts endless effort into furthering this important cause.

Our club, Almaden Soccer, caters to about 2000 kids in our community, thru our recreational and competitive soccer programs. This past new year we held our inaugural New Years Day 5k/10k run/walk, where we had participants from age 4 through 84! Stephanie reached out to us and asked if we would like to use their AEDs on site during the race, in case of any emergencies. We of course accepted her generous offer, and took delivery of two AEDs, which were placed on the course during race day. Fortunately we did not need to use them, but had there been any unfortunate issues, we would have been ore than prepared, thanks to Racing Hearts!

I was involved in the start up of Racing Hearts but have not been involved directly for over a year. It has been amazing to see the impact Racing Hearts has had in our local communities; through advocacy multiple cities now have AEDs accessible in case of need. My daughter is a runner and it has been great to see Racing Heart partnering with dozens of races to provide life saving AEDs along the race courses. Stephanie and her board are committed and have high integrity. I appreciate all they have done to educate people and increase public safety.

Representing the partnership with Sports Basement and Racing Hearts I have to say that Stephanie Martinson and Racing Hearts has been outstanding to work with. We are extremely happy to be working with such a great person and a great cause.

Racing Hearts has been a great community partner and we firmly support all of the hard work and efforts that they provide for the community.

The support has been mutually beneficial and we look forward to continuing this great relationship.

I first met Stephanie Martinson two years ago when she introduced herself to me when I was the AED Program Coordinator for Stanford University. Stephanie impressed me as the heart and soul of Racing Hearts and as I have grown to know her I know that she is open and honest about the Racing Hearts mission, goals and finances. While I still work at Stanford I am no longer the AED Program Coordinator but am proud to serve as a Racing Hearts Board Member. Working with this group allows me to continue to contribute to the Bay Area community on a health care topic that touches every family regardless of income level, race, or occupation.

The public's lack of knowledge about heart disease in general and AEDs specifically motivates me to be part of the education process.

Because of the overwhelming need for AEDs in our community, Racing Hearts has made amazing progress in a short amount of time. To be apart of this endeavor is extremely gratifying while equally challenging.

Being at risk for heart complications because I'm a Type I diabetic, my involvement in Racing Hearts inspires me to decrease my own risks.

The generosity of Racing Hearts AED lending program allows local races to have that extra piece of mind by providing a safe environment for their athletes.

We have worked with Racing Hearts for their AED Lending program. Racing Hearts has provided AED's for our running events on several occasions. Stephanie is very easy to work with and always accommodating to what our event needs for the safety of our runners. We are thrilled to support their vision and mission.

- Liz, Rock 'n' Roll Portland Half Marathon

Through the Spot the Box campaign, I would always stop my family (4 students of various levels) and say, "I have to get this picture for Spot the Box." This allowed me to share the importance of knowing where AEDs are in case of a medical situation when someone's heart is not beating.

Racing Hearts is an engaged and agile organization that spreads awareness about sudden cardiac arrests and the need for AEDs in our communities. As a volunteer, I am impressed by both Stephanie Martinson and Shari Schoenfeld's dynamic and supportive leadership along with the enthusiasm of our passionate team. I am proud to volunteer with Racing Hearts and urge members of our community to join us in our Spot the Box campaign!

Racing Hearts - an amazing organization! I am impressed with the impressive and important work and in such a short time. I am proud of the efforts of Racing Hearts to install over 52 AEDs in police vehicles, public buildings, parks and schools in Palo Alto.

The need for widespread installations of AEDs in key locations is critical. The "Spot Your Box" campaign is easy to do, brings public awareness to an important issue and can be life saving if a cardiac arrest occurs.

Thank you Racing Hearts for making our community safer for times of cardiovascular incidents - cardiac arrests and heart attacks.

I have been a supporter of Racing Hearts for several years. Stephanie is the heart and soul of the organization, with the help of a very capable board. Placing AEDs up and down the peninsula and in surrounding communities is vital to give a life-saving chance to anyone experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Racing Hearts places AEDs in running races and other events, and helps place them in police patrol cars, schools, and other community sites. An SCA can happen to children as well as adults and it is important to have them in schools - something Racing Hearts supports.

I contribute to Racing Hearts because it is an innovative nonprofit dedicated to bringing training and tools to the community to save lives. The organization uses traditional methods such as securing AEDs through purchase and donation. It is also working on an innovative social media app and has created quick online videos to help educate the community. I thoroughly believe in Racing Heart's mission and look forward to becoming a volunteer in the future.

As a 6th generation Californian from a family that has lost many members to heart disease and sudden cardiac arrest, I strongly believe that AEDs should be mandated in CA schools and made as widely available as possible. These devices have become as common as drinking fountains and fire extinguishers in many public places and office buildings across the nation. Thank goodness for grass roots organizations like Racing Hearts and the dedication of passionate, driven crusaders like Stephanie Martinson, for seeing the need to raise the bar on this issue in California. Her local efforts are a shining example to mobilize communities in other states lacking proper AED legislation as well. Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” While we cannot (yet) definitively prevent Sudden Cardiac Arrest, providing the proper tools and resources (AEDs, education) to help people be proactive during an emergency is empowering for communities – and ultimately, life-saving for individuals. Go team Racing Hearts, and thank you Stephanie!

With a simple mission of trying to help save lives with AEDs - I can tell you that Racing Hearts is already making a huge difference in the overall awareness and advocacy for AEDs everywhere. As a board member it's been exciting to see the impact created on the community; from number of AEDs placed, dollars allocated and people served. Stephanie is so passionate about about the work and it shows in everything she does.

I am in awe of what Stephanie Martinson has been able to accomplish in a very short time. Racing Hearts with the cooperation of community organizations has been able to make Palo Alto a heart safe community with the place of 82 AEDs in schools, police cars , etc. Additionally, Racing Hearts has engaged high school students who have created a video on CPR and are working on other AED related projects. Additionally , Racing hearts has loaned AEDs to running events. This is a practice which should happen at every race.

As a member of Parent Heart Watch, an organization dedicated to preventing sudden cardiac arrest in youth, I am painfully aware of how difficult it can be to gain support for the placement of AEDs. It can take many years to have more than a few AEDs placed. What Stephanie and Racing Hearts have accomplished in a little over a year seems almost miraculous.

Stephanie Martinson of Racing Hearts donated 2 AED's for the San Jose Double Road Race this past Saturday. Having the AED's in the hands of our first aid team was so critical to the safety of our runners. Thankfully there was no emergencies, but had there been, we were ready. The work Stephanie is doing to help save lives through her non-profit RacingHearts.net is awesome. If you put on sporting events, make sure to contact her and support her wonderful cause.

Justin Wall
Race Director - Double Road Race (San Jose)

Stephanie is relentless, which is what every nonprofit needs to be successful. She pours her passion and determination into Racing Hearts and follows through with their mission with kindness and professionalism. It's been wonderful having the AEDs onsite for our events, and I will never have another run/walk event where I don't have Racing Hearts as my partner. If you're a race director, school, community center or event producer, you should have Racing Hearts and an AED onsite.

We direct 20+ running events every year in the Bay Area and think it's always important to have AEDs on site at our races. We hope a situation never arises where they are needed but, if there ever is a need, we want them to be there. We support Racing Hearts in their efforts to have AEDs at all athletic events.

Thanks to Stephanie Martinson of Racing Hearts for introducing this great program to the City of San Jose. Her organization has provided one of the city’s busiest soccer field facility (serving more than 2,000 participants per year) with a potentially life saving AED device. Their focus on low income, under deserved populations provides a service unique to the rest of the city. Thank you again for all you have done to help us in obtaining this valuable piece of equipment that may some day, save someone’s life!

Stephanie Martinson at Racing Hearts approached Aspire Public Schools about funding an AED program in some of our schools. She is extremely passionate about her mission and very knowledgeable about the AED process. As someone with limited background and knowledge regarding AED's, she made me feel very comfortable throughout the process. I hope that I get a chance to work with Racing Hearts again in the future.

Racing Hearts founder Stephanie Martinson sought financial assistance from our Holiday Fund as she was getting the organization formed, before incorporating as a non-profit. Our grant committee was highly impressed by the concept and provided a grant to equip our two high schools with AEDs. Since then, we have seen the group grow and enjoy quick success in our community. This is a very focused organization operating very efficiently to accomplish a great public service.

Bill Johnson, Publisher
Palo Alto Weekly
Palo Alto, CA

I've had the opportunity to watch this organization grow from the very beginning. What Stephanie Martinson has achieved in a very short time is remarkable. She has singlehandedly gotten the public schools in Palo to install AEDs at every site. She has also worked with the city of Palo Alto to get AED's in all public buildings, parks, and police cars. It has been remarkable to watch an idea grow into a reality. Racing Hearts has managed not only to raise funds, but also awareness about anyone's ability to provide potentially life saving support to a victim of Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

As a sudden cardiac arrest survivor I was extremely pleased to hear about racing hearts, a non profit organization whose whole goal is to save lives from SCA's! Now being disabled from my cardiac arrest, I find volunteering at racing hearts very rewarding and helpful for me to make a full recovery. It has been really beneficial to hear about stories like mine, healthy, athletic and young people recovering so well from SCAs!

I first learned about Racing Hearts through the organization's incredibly motivated and passionate founder. I never knew how important it was to get AEDs in schools and at sporting events, and how simple it can be to make these life-saving devices available. Racing Hearts can literally save lives, and it does so through an all-volunteer, highly efficient organization. I've been very impressed by everything I've seen from Racing Hearts, and hope the organization continues to grow.