Miles for the Missing

One Year Later, Miles for the Missing Is Still Running

In May 2025, VML Belgium and Child Focus launched Miles for the Missing on International Missing Children's Day: a permanent Strava club that turns Belgium's running community into an active search network for missing children. Nearly a year on, the numbers speak for themselves.

Miles for the Missing became the largest Strava club in Belgium within months of launching, and the fastest-growing platform ever built to support the search for missing children. Today, more than 12,000 runners are members. Together, they have logged 2.8 million miles. Every one of those miles is a pair of eyes passing through places where Child Focus needs them most.

The campaign generated €204,000 in earned media value and an estimated reach of 28 million, driven by organic growth, influencer support, and a launch activation at Belgium's biggest sporting event, the 20 km of Brussels.

But what makes Miles for the Missing different from a campaign is that it doesn't end. The Strava club is a permanent channel. When a child goes missing, Child Focus sends a notification directly to members' smartphones. Runners can also generate personalised routes via the Miles for the Missing platform, built on the Strava heatmap and enriched with AI-guided waypoints like bus stops, train stations, and gas stations, the places where missing children are most likely to be spotted.

"Belgians collectively run millions of miles every year, through the very places where Child Focus needs extra eyes. We didn't build a campaign. We built infrastructure," says Kasper Janssens, Creative Director at VML Belgium.

In 2024, Child Focus opened 22% more disappearance cases than the year before. Miles for the Missing isn't a response to a single day. It's a permanent answer to a growing problem, one that keeps running.

Join the club: www.strava.com/clubs/milesforthemissing
Platform: www.milesforthemissing.be