July has been a busy month for the Back on My Feet St. Leonard’s team! On July 9th, residential members Domingo, Issac, Francis, Jorge, Howard, George, and Nick, accompanied by several non-residential volunteers, met the other three Back on My Feet teams at Montrose Beach for the Back on My Feet Beach-athon! The event included beach-themed relay races, a fastest member contest, and a water balloon toss! Howard and non-residential members Gavin and Anne were on the winning team, George won an award for “Most Team Spirit”, and Jorge won awards for “Best Crab Walk” and “Most Dramatic Finish” (he nearly passed out)! After the events, all members gathered for a potluck brunch and one thing is for sure-the St. Leonard’s team sure loves to eat! On the evening of July 14th, Frank, Osie, and Issac met volunteers Catherine, Alex, Sarah, and Kelly at Millennium Park for the Music Without Borders show featuring Sierra Maestra and Funkadesi. They enjoyed the music and beautiful summer night!
Our Chicago Marathon hopefuls (Domingo, Javier, Issac, and Francis) have been doing very well with their training. They attend the CARA Marathon Training runs on Saturday mornings. So far, their longest training run has been a 10 miler and they all felt great afterwards!
On the jobs front, Domingo was recently hired at Growing Home. Growing Home is a non-profit agriculture business that provides paid transitional employment and job training. Javier recently obtained a second job as an adult mentor for Build Inc., a non-profit that works in some of Chicago’s toughest neighborhoods giving at-risk youth alternatives to the violence that takes away their positive potential. While Javier and Domingo are busy with work, they remain dedicated to their Chicago Marathon training and have continued to attend all marathon training runs! Odis has been busy working at St. Leonard’s and Jorge is enjoying his job at The Living Room Café. After furtively looking for work, Nick was hired full-time as a Relocation Consultant for a moving and storage company! When he’s not busy at work, he brings the volunteers ice cold water after our runs in this unbearably hot and humid July weather!
Maurice recently graduated from Mid-City Truck Driving School with his CDL Commercial Driver’s License! He studied hard for the final exam of the class and hopes to be able to hang his completion certificate on his wall. We are so proud of Maurice for this accomplishment!
Issac has been active in the community, speaking out against a bill that would require convicted murderers to publicly register with the state. Issac’s determination and humanity continue to amazing us every day!
Frank and Osie are both enrolled in the Building Maintenance course through St. Leonard’s. When they aren’t in class or running, they stay active by biking all across Chicago and visiting the beach and Navy Pier!
George had a running injury and needed to take time off from running for a while. He kept his stamina up by walking at the morning team runs. With patience, he’s back to running again. Even when he was injured, George always has a very pleasant demeanor.
Howard has impressed the team by always looking out for the other members on the morning runs. He knows the true meaning of teamwork!
We welcomed three new residential members to our team: Akbar, Donald, and Wade. All three had been waiting to join the team for quite a while, so we are thrilled that they are now participating in our morning runs!
Sandra passed down the reigns of Team Leader to Catherine and Alex. The team is so thankful for all the hard work and dedication that Sandra has shown the team. We wish her the best on her 3.5 week vacation in August and we anticipate her return! A big “thank you” goes out to Catherine and Alex for taking on this important role! You have big shoes to fill, but the team is confident that you will do a great job!
The team also said goodbye to Stephanie, a long-time volunteer who has been running with the team since September! We wish her the best of luck with her move back home to Philly and we are so happy that she’ll get to a part of the Back on My Feet Philly team!
Residential Member of the Month: Frank Williams
While Frank has only been a BoMF member since May 2011, he has brought so much cheer and laughter to the St. Leonard’s team! Despite battling shin splints, he has maintained 100% attendance! He is always the first to congratulate the other runners as they come in and his positive attitude is contageous! Frank can tell you how much he has gotten out of Back on My Feet:
“My name is Frank Williams. I am a resident at St. Leonard’s Ministries in Chicago which is a transitional home for the homeless as well as for me who are released from prison. As I entered into their basement, I noticed a sheet of paper that read BoMF on the top of it. As my curiosity overwhelmed me at that moment, I continued to read the sheet. I found that the information given about this BoMF program drew my interest even more. BoMF stands for Back On My Feet. This particular group is an organization of men who run to keep themselves healthy on and off the field in order to rebuild themselves for future endeavors. I signed up quickly to start my new strive of getting Back on My Feet. Now, 3 months later, I am extremely appreciative of the many challenges I had to go through within the group to help me become a better person. I have been introduced to various outside events such as business and legal sessions as well as job trainings and much more. This experience has helped me stay in shape, make better life choices, change eating habits, and continue to remain healthy both within and outside my body. I love being a part of Back on My Feet because this group has definitely helped me to personally remain on my own two feet.”
Non-Residential Member of the Month: Kelly Christl
Kelly got hooked on BoMF ever since she came to her very first run! Somehow between her busy work and racing schedule, Kelly still manages to come to all of the weekday runs and is even Fundracing for Back on My Feet Chicago for the Chicago Marathon! The team appreciates her optimism, encouragement, and kind smile. Kelly has been touched by the program; as she would tell you:
“I’m really honored to be BoMF St. Leonard’s member of the month. The time that I have spent with BoMF St. Leonards has been so incredibly rewarding. I am inspired by the display of courage and determination from the guys in the program. They are so committed to making positive changes in their lives. I love being part of this organization. It is a constant reminder to me that no person is a lost cause and everyone deserves a second chance.”
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