ALBANY — Officials with Albany’s marathon proudly handed over a check Wednesday for $23,000 to the director of what will be Albany’s first inpatient end-of-life home, a project of the Phoebe Foundation.

The funds’ source was primarily registration fees from the Snickers Marathon Energy Bar Marathon that was held in March in Albany. The event’s primary sponsor is Mars Snackfood, which produces the Snickers Energy Bar in Albany.

“They (Mars) do not lend their name lightly,” said Phoebe CEO Joel Wernick. “We are humbled ... by this designation (of the Snickers marathon).”

Mars Plant Director Ullic Young said the race pairs up with Mars’ family- and community-first stance, and pledged the snack foodmaker’s continued support, which for 2008 was $20,000 and volunteers.

Last year’s inaugural event netted $17,000 for the Willson Hospice House, which is in the middle of a three-year $7 million capital campaign. Patty Woodall, director of Albany Community Hospice and Palliative Care, said so far about $5.2 million has been raised.

Albany Community Hospice is an organization of Phoebe, and the Willson Hospice House, Wernick has said, will be an “extension” of that.

While the marathon has, in just its second year, become an event that draws thousands into Albany, it was initially established to help fund the hospice house.

“We don’t have any inpatient (facility) for hospice. A lot of people would benefit (from it),” said Dr. Jose Tongol, whose vision it was to create an Albany marathon. Tongol’s mother died in hospice from lung cancer.

“I want to help the Willson Hospice House, which is going to be soon constructed,” said Tongol, an oncologist at the Phoebe Cancer Center, which also sponsored the race.

“This will help people in this community who are facing end-of-life,” Woodall said.

The marathon, officials said, has gone beyond raising funds for the hospice center to become an event that unites the community.

The March 2008 event drew 1,056 runners and about 1,200 volunteers, said Lisa Riddle of the Albany Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Last year, there were 659 runners.

Runners from 41 states, Canada and Africa were represented at the downtown event. In Baghdad’s Green Zone, there were 34 members of the military who, donning their Snickers marathon T-shirts, ran a shadow marathon, said Barry Cohen, chair of Albany Marathon Inc.

But the event hasn’t just pulled the community together; it’s pulled in dollars, too.

Given the state average of $104.78 for an overnight guest, Riddle said that the 2008 event provided, at minimum, a $221,000 infusion into the Albany economy.

Riddle said that, given extra travelers, she estimates the figure closer to $225,000, but said that was a low approximation because she doesn’t have data for the number of visitors who came to Albany for the event as supporters, not runners.

The marathon has done at least one more thing for Albany, officials said: It’s put the city on the map as a “premier” marathon site.

According to Tongol and www.marathonguide.com, Albany’s Snickers marathon is the No. 2 qualifier for the prestigious Boston Marathon, with the latter being the primary qualifier.

Tongol, who has recently been invited to serve on the board of the Boston Marathon and the American Medical Athletic Association, said 24 percent of Albany runners qualified for the Boston event.

“We are going to get Jose (Tongol) back to curing folks,” quipped Wernick of Tongol’s increased popularity.

The Willson Hospice House is named in honor of the late Albany philanthropist and community leader Harry Willson. His widow, Jane Willson, donated $1 million toward the project.