It was an afternoon of smiles and celebration at the Scott & White Clinic in College Station.

Last summer, the Scott & White BCS Marathon chose the Down Syndrome Association of the Brazos Valley, SOS Ministries and the Mercy Project as their local charities of choice to benefit from the race. The three local charities received generous donations from the success of the Scott & White BCS Marathon.

"We get asked a lot to sponsor certain things, but this is really special to Scott & White," said Jason Jennings, chief executive officer of Scott & White Healthcare for the College Station Region. "It goes right along with what Scott & White is about, which is promoting a healthier community."

In total, the marathon raised $150,000 for the local charities this past year. SOS Ministries and the Down Syndrome Association of the Brazos Valley each received $25,000. The Mercy Project received a $100,000 donation.

Chris Field is a co-founder of the Scott & White BCS Marathon as well as the Mercy Project. A few months ago, Field and other volunteers traveled across the world to Ghana, Africa to free trafficked children from slavery.

"We knew that when we started this race, that it started as a charity event," Field said. "So we knew there was going to be a personal touch to this race."

With the help of the donations from the marathon, the Mercy Project successfully freed 23 trafficked children back to their families. Field was excited to announce he and his wife are adopting a former trafficked child slave they helped free.

"He is seven years old and it will be fun for him to get to participate in the marathon this next year," Field said. "We'll get to show him how all of these people are one of the reasons you are able to be apart of our family."

Christy Knight restarted the Down Syndrome Association of the Brazos Valley about 10 years ago when her son Colton was born with Down syndrome.

"Oh this is such a blessing because now we can focus on adding more educational classes to help the students become more independent people."

Knight is planning on using the money to buy new computers to further their education.

"It reminds us that the heart of this race is charity, to make the lives of local children and children around the world better," said Field.

In it's second year, Field said the marathon doubled in size and has donated over $222,000 to local charities.

"To raise more than $200,000 in two years of an event is remarkable," Field said. "We feel really blessed we have been able to do it."