On Sunday November 14th, Back on My Feet Chicago held its very own Thanksgiving Feast-er 5k and Holiday Party along the Chicago Lakefront. The specially designed Back on My Feet course – complete with mile markers, a water station, and a special Back on My Feet finish line banner and timing station – started at Chicago Ave and wound north along the lake shore path before turning around at the North Avenue Bridge. Read more…
To jump start your holiday shopping season, make sure to stop by the Back on My Feet Merchandise Store. On Friday November 26th, Back on My Feet will have a Black Friday Sale!
By entering discount code bomfholiday10, you will recieve 30% off of all merchandise! This amazing sale will end at midnight on Friday. Make sure to grab some great presents for your friends and family while supporting an amazing cause.
Throughout the month of December, Back on My Feet will participate in different sales each week. Keep an eye out for great deals and steals starting December 1st!
Please remember that 100% of the proceeds of Back on My Feet merchandise, goes directly to our program. Wear your gear with pride!
Last Saturday, members, friends, and supporters of BOMF DC gathered to walk on behalf of BOMF in the 2010 Fannie Mae Help the Homeless Walkathon. BOMF is a first year beneficiary and had over 800 walkers register in support of BOMF!
The group met bright and early at the corner of 7th and Madison and enjoyed coffee, bagels, and football while waiting for the walk to begin. BOMF was pleased to welcome our new favorite 4-legged friend, Molly to walk on our behalf as well!
Earlier this fall, Boston University’s BUTV stopped by the Boston Common during a BOMF morning run to report on what’s happening in the backyard of the more than 31,000 BU undergraduate and graduate students.
Back on My Feet is seeking a passionate and experienced national Vice President of Communications and Corporate Relations. The position will be based in our Philadelphia headquarters.
See the job description here. Interested applicants should apply using our Common Position Application here.
Currently, we are also seeking Executive Directors in our Dallas – Fort Worth, Boston and Baltimore chapter
Hiring news can always be found on the Back on My Feet blog. You can receive automatic updates on hiring opportunities and news staff members, by way of either an RSS feed or e-mail blast, also. We additionally have a Back on My Feet jobs board here.
Nov. 14-20 is National Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week. As part of our effort to continue to further the dialogue around homelessness, this week we are hosting Personal Reflections on Homelessness here on the Back on My Feet blog.
For this series, we have asked one BOMF member in each city to reflect on their experience of homelessness.
Ed Jenkins is a member of the DC team at Clean and Sober Streets. Ed has been a member of BOMF for more than six months and is the closest embodiment of a teddy bear you will meet.
His story is less soft.
After relapsing for a 4th time, Ed checked himself into a recovery center in D.C. earlier this year and was placed at CSS. Seizing the moment, he has flourished running several races since joining Back on My Feet (including a half marathon), becoming Team Captain and most recently graduating from Byte Back Computer Training. He is currently actively job searching.
Ed has become a leader, source of welcome and inspiration. Though his build may suggest otherwise, he playfully goes by the nickname Kip after famous Olympic runner Kip Keino.
Below, read a short interview with Ed about homelessness and see an NBC interview with him.
Back on My Feet has a chic new friend in Chicago: Professional Stylist John Allen. On Nov. 11, John Allan appeared on local station WGN to share his tips for “grooming for success.” He also announced his salon’s new partnership with BOMF, along with an upcoming clothing drive and special deal to benefit the Chicago chapter.
From Nov. 14 until the Christmas holiday, John Allan’s is also hosting a Back on My Feet drop box at its Chicago location, where members can donate gently-used professional male attire to benefit BOMF’s participants. Guests of John Allan’s who donate attire or $20 to BOMF will also receive the special $38 offer on his Signature Full Service. This service includes a scalp massaging shampoo & conditioning treatment, a hot towel, haircut, manicure and shoeshine.
Fellas: Support BOMF and new partner John Allan by making an appointment today!
Donnell W., John R., and John M. at Tuerk House
BOMF Baltimore participated in the Tuerk House 5k, held on November 6th. We returned to Druid Hill Park for the second year in a row to support the Tuerk House, a provider of addiction recovery services in Baltimore. This race was the first 5k for several of our newest teammates, a return to racing for many who ran in last month’s Baltimore Running Festival, and a PR opportunity for many other runners.
Led by Baltimore Station Training Coach Dan, BOMF invited everyone to circle up and stretch with us before the race. Nearly 300 racers joined in our pre-race stretching routine.
Eric Fair in the Back on My Feet Philadelphia offices. Photo by Lauren F. Friedman.
Freelance journalist Lauren F. Friedman put together an important profile of Philadelphia St. John’s team member Eric Fair for the website of popular innovation magazine GOOD.
In the early hours of a recent Saturday morning, Eric Fair begins his 15-mile training run. A still-dark path that winds along the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia takes him further and further from his starting point on Race Street: Saint John’s Hospice, the homeless shelter where he lives.
Fair has been on and off of drugs and in and out of rehab, but now he runs with a goal in mind: the Philadelphia Marathon, his first.
“I think a lot about my past,” Fair says. “But that’s the most peaceful time that I have, when I’m running. I’m in another world.”
Fair began running last year with Back on My Feet, a nonprofit that uses regularly-scheduled team runs in five different cities to help homeless participants work toward self-sufficiency. Today, when Fair makes his final push down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, he will be one of more than 450 Back on My Feet members who have completed a race since the organization’s founding in Philadelphia in 2007. MORE
Kenny Herder is still moving forward.
Recovery is a long, complicated process, and Kenny knows it well.
One of our earliest team members at Ridge Avenue in Philadelphia left Back on My Feet and came back and overcame alcohol and drug abuse, in addition to a mood disorder. This fall, he was the featured speaker at our Chicago launch breakfast. He’s working and living on his own now, as we discussed earlier this month as part of our Personal Reflections on Homelessness.
Because we also like to have fun and show that we’re about , we played a bit of a spoof game of Minute to Win It with Kenny, his longtime BOMF contact Wylie Belasik, Finance Manager Brandon Webster and Assistant to the President Sean Massenberg. Watch it below.
