On September 21st, in conjuction with the one year anniversary of Back on My Feet in Chicago, Back on My Feet partnered with Harris Bank to launch the first installment of monthly Financial Literacy courses for residential members.

Financial Literacy comprises two courses covering key concepts in basic banking and credit. One course will be held each month, and course content will alternate monthly between banking and credit. Back on My Feet residential members will now be required to complete both Financial Literacy courses as part of the Back on My Feet Next Steps program.

Sixteen residential members attended the first installment of this monthly series, which focused on banking principles. Attendees found the course informative and helpful.

Thank you to Harris Bank for providing financial literacy to Back on My Feet members. We look forward to attending the credit course in October!

The Rugged and Raw 10K/20K Trail Run benefitting Back on My Feet on October 22 is more than just a race. It is more than a physical challenge to overcome. You are becoming a part of a greater purpose and providing an opportunity for those facing homelessness to break down walls that prevent them from moving forward.

By participating in this race you are supporting those who want to change for the better and want to become a part of society by engaging in the workplace. Helping others just takes small steps but impacts them greatly. Why not take a chance at transforming someone’s life? Share some of the transformations you’ve witnessed over the past eight months with Back on My Feet Dallas-Fort Worth in the comments section.

Register for the Rugged and Raw 10K/20K and trek down the scenic trails of Lake Grapevine on October 22^nd.

Sheretta B., 25, began the program at Dallas LIFE in February 2011 after leaving an unhealthy family situation. Sheretta entered the shelter and immediately found herself overwhelmed by the environment. She constantly worried for her two children, Taylor (five years old) and Tylor (two years old), and the effect the shelter would have on them. She didn’t know what the future held for her and her small family. She even contemplated returning to the unsafe atmosphere she had just escaped.

Sheretta and her children were shy, withheld and timid when interacting with others. They were a product of an intense and constantly changing dynamic at the shelter. They had each other, but they had no direction.

Sheretta joined Back on My Feet in May 2011. With two kids under five, making the morning runs was more difficult for Sheretta than the average participant. Showing up with less than a few hours of sleep, knowing she needed to prep and get the kids to daycare before 7:00 a.m., fueled on by little to no emotional support from family… this high school athlete proved she could do it, and some.

Sheretta has attended all financial literacy courses, the Skills to Succeed course, a computer literacy course, all exclusive job fairs, a mock interview workshop, studied for her GED and lost more than twenty pounds over the past six months. She was recognized as member of the month in September 2011 and she is currently interviewing for available positions while going to school at El Centro Community College part-time.

“If it wasn’t for Back on My Feet, I would have left a long time ago. I’m more prepared for a job and it’s overall helped my self-esteem really. I was not trying to do anything when I first came here, it helps me a lot. If it wasn’t for Back on My Feet, I probably would have never gone back to school.”

While Taylor and Tylor don’t yet understand the meaning of their time at Dallas LIFE, they do understand the joy that Back on My Feet brings their mom. Sheretta and her family smile now because of the Non-Residential members on the Dallas LIFE team. Sure, we run a lot, but here are two very happy examples of how Back on My Feet is so much more than running…

Sheretta and her family were recently featured in a D Magazine article. To join the Dallas LIFE team, click here.

Ardelia P., 70, found herself on the steps of the Salvation Army Carr P. Collins center in April 2011 after her husband of 40 years filed for divorce and asked her to leave their home together. Her children, reliant upon her ex-husband, could not help. This grandmother, slept on mats at the Salvation Army center for 30 days before being admitted into their transitional housing unit. Ardelia heard about Back on My Feet from her roommate and joined the team in a run one morning, before attending orientation.

Easily the oldest and most eager member of Back on My Feet, Ardelia placed third in her age group at the Melon Dash 5K in August and placed first in her age group at the Run Proud for Dessert 5K in September. She has maintained 90 percent attendance, participated in all required financial literacy classes and was named Residential member of the month in August 2011.

Ardelia hopes to find a full-time position working with children soon, but her ultimate dream is to work in the ministry.

“My proudest accomplishments are my children, my faith in Jesus Christ and my time with Back on My Feet. My children are proud of me and my accomplishments. This is the first time I’ve ever heard them say, ‘I’m proud of you.’”

Little does Ardelia know, she has begun her own ministry through her love for her teammates at the Salvation Army center.

Join Ardelia and the Salvation Army team, click here.

On Wednesday, September 21st, Back on My Feet celebrated its one year anniversary in Chicago with a spirited morning run. Back on My Feet teams gathered at the YMCA Lawson House to relive the milestones of the past year and retrace the one mile route that one short year ago launched the Chicago chapter.

The morning began with opening remarks from Kate Thinglum, Program Coordinator for Back on My Feet, who expressed gratitude for all those that have helped make the Chicago chapter’s first year memorable and successful.

Josh Serlin, Program Director, followed by recognizing active founding Back on My Feet Chicago members Wahid R., Anthony J., Samuel I., Domingo P. and Ramiro R. along with founding Lake View YMCA members Joe W., Steven L. and Micheal G. Past and present Core members were also recognized for their dedication and service to Back on My Feet.

Next,  representatives from each Chicago team spoke about their experience with Back on My Feet. A big THANK YOU to Debbie, Sandra, Sara and Randi for sharing with the group!

Following the speeches, participants set out on a one mile run. Runners were greeted at the finish with a cheer tunnel and post-run celebration! Despite the early morning hour, attendees rejoiced with cake, cookies and good company while sharing birthday hats and memories of the past year.

Finally, everyone in attendance was asked to sign a poster entitled, “The BEST part of Back on My Feet Chicago is…” Answers included, “the hugs”, “a new family”, “running and friends”, and “all the positive energy and the smiles and the hugs at 5:45am!”

Some highlights from our first year in existance include:

• 96 Residential members have joined a BoMF Chicago team since the chapter’s launch, including 39 currently active members
• 54 Members have run a race
• 5 Members have run a half-marathon
• 5 Members are currently training for the 2011 Bank of America Chicago Marathon
• 4 Members have accrued over 500 miles since starting with the program

As of the end of August:

• 87% of eligible members are currently enrolled in the Next Steps program
• 21 members have obtained employment
• 24 members have obtained housing
• 28 members have enrolled in educational/vocational training programs

View more photos from the morning here.

St. John’s:

With the majority of our members planning to participate in half or full marathons in the coming months, August marked the beginning of Fall race training for the St. John’s Team.

With the team logging miles at record speed this month, team coach Heather decided it was time to mix in some cross-training. Philadelphia Sports Club was generous enough to donate a SPIN room for our use one Friday morning, and former team leader of RWA, Megan Oxenford instructed the team in an intense 45 minutes of spinning, and singing to the original St. John’s requested playlist.

At the Wissahickon Wanderer’s Track Meet, St. John’s proved that training is paying off.  Bob set a new PR during his 5k race around the track, Mike P. showed us that walking is a thing of the past and he is ready to run, and the St. John’s relay team (Dan, Ron, Henry and Leonard) closed out the night with a great performance!

Sheila Dennis:

We celebrated our team’s 1^st birthday with cake and dancing. Esterlina, Lisa, and Eleanor all began classes in Philadelphia’s OIC program.  Esterlina earned her 50 mile medal and 60 mile watch. Lisa and Rhoda earned their 30 mile shirts.  Dawn, Wilma, Eleanor, and Jesse ran the 400m at the Wissahickon Wanderers Track meet. Dawn and Jesse also joined a relay medley.

Our Brother’s Place:

First, team OBP would like to give a HUGE thanks to Pete DeCarolis for serving as our team leader for the last 6 months. Pete brought a tremendous amount of dedication, patience and a genuine sense of caring to our team. He’s a terrific guy and a wonderful friend to us all. He always brings his clever sense of humor and always makes each of us happy to be living in the moment. Thanks Pete!

Our new team leader is Marisa Jones. She’s been with the team for quite a while. She’s a natural leader, someone we all predicted would eventually take the helm. We are all glad that she did! We’re looking at an active 6 months ahead of us.  Thanks you Marisa for your commitment to our team.

OBP is super excited to welcome our new res-members. Just as our team was beginning to feel like a small group, we’ve added Mequan,  Jeree, and Adam. For milestones, Lamar has already crossed the 50 mile mark while Dave F. reached 100 miles! WOW! Congrats to Dave!

We witnessed stellar performances by Olani, Lamar, Christine, Pete D., Pete S., Matt, and Sebastian at the Wissahickon Wanderers Track Meet, capped off with a 3rd place finish by Team OBP (Lamar, Christine, Matt and Pete S.) in the Distance Medley Relay! The full team will be meeting up this weekend for some roller skating, which should make for a few good laughs and memories.

New Jerusalem Now

August was another great month at NJN. After the crazy July, many of our team members enjoyed the more relaxing month of August. We participated in the track meet. We loved being able to include more of our team with the shorter events. Our ladies participated in the 400-meter relay. Dave set a personal best in the mile! Mohamed also ran in the 2 miles. Awesome work guys! We continued to keep pushing our running in our training runs. Almost everyone on the team is doing at least half of the mileage at run and the other half at a jog. We have many team members who are working towards their first 5k race.

We added several new volunteers throughout the month of August. Our fearless leader was off on vacation for much of August, so we give a big thanks out to our awesome volunteers for helping to keep our team running smoothly! We also added new team members Dan and Nikki. The new res members just reached their first 10 miles! Mereald reached 250 miles and Palmar hit 50 miles. Mohamed is also starting classes at CCP.

A sad event that affected our team was the loss of Roswell, an awesome and well respected non-res. We will miss him greatly and proudly participated in a memorial run and organized cards for his family. We will always remember this amazing person and he will always be a part of our team. Some of our residents have also dedicated future races to his memory.

As we start to move into the cooler fall weather, we are looking forward to our social events and a lot of awesome fall races which we are working on building towards and having more entries in! Come out and join us for a morning run Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 5:40AM!

Ready, Willing, and Able:

August was a hot month for team Ready, Willing and Able, but that didn’t keep us from getting our miles in! Therion and Wardell have managed to keep their attendance at a whopping 100% while James is close behind at 99%. Both Therion and Wardell have also attended Saturday runs to help train for the ING half marathon and potentially the Philly full marathon! Maurice, our team captain, recently reached 250 miles while balancing his busy work schedule. We congratulate all of you! We recently welcomed in two new res members: Vern and Todd, who both bring an optimistic attitude and unwavering smiles to our morning circle. Lastly, Sarah stepped down from her position as team leader. Her positive spirits motivated the team and made every member feel welcome. One res member has even described her as the “Energizer Bunny” due to her upbeat attitude. We all thank you for everything that you have done!

Back on My Feet was the official charity of this year’s Washington DC Ragnar Relay. The Baltimore and DC chapters joined forces to create three relay teams of twelve runners to compete in the series this past weekend, and all of our runners did an amazing job!

Team member, Dominic R., was featured in the Baltimore Sun’s article, “Ragnar Relay a step on the path to recovery for some“.  He has been running with our Baltimore team since February, completing multiple 5Ks, and already training for a half marathon next month!

Our teams were made up of residents & volunteers, who all came together to complete the 198 mile journey. The race started on Friday in Cumberland, MD, taking the runners (and support crew!) through the Appalachian Mountains and towns of Maryland, ending in Washington DC on Saturday afternoon.

Running through the night, up the hills and around the towns brought us back to the National Harbor and across the final finish line.

Congratulations to our runners and volunteers!

We also want to say Thank You, to all of our Fundracers and fundraisers for joining us in this challenge.  We had a great time partnering with the event and motivating our team members to tackle the weekend-long race!

On September 16th, ten members from all four Back on My Feet Chicago teams attended the September Accenture Skills to Succeed course. This month’s offering focused on workplace communications. Members learned how to communicate effectively through strategies for conflict resolution,written communication, and verbal vs. non-verbal cues, among other useful topics. Back on My Feet residential members and staff both found the class to be extremely educational and worthwhile!

Back on My Feet Chicago sends a big “thank you” to Accenture for hosting the course!

Although it was a chilly September morning, there was a great turnout for Back on My Feet DC’s 2nd annual All Feet on Deck event Sunday.  Teams were well represented and there was enthusiastic participation from community members, as well!

All Feet on Deck, originally slated as an August 5K fun run and pool party at Hains Point, brought all of our teams together for a 3.2ish mile loop.  It was the first 5K for many of our members and everyone completed the run successfully!

“It is a great way to introduce the concept of a ‘race’ to many of our members who haven’t run one before,” said Amy Vokes, Program Director for Back on My Feet DC.

Stephanie Remick, new to the Back on My Feet DC family as Member Services Manager, said “This was my first BoMF DC program event and it was a blast!”

While the weather was a little chilly for swimming, teams made their own fun with pick up games of soccer, Frisbee, wiffle ball and even hula hooping!  We hope you’ll join us next year for the 3rd annual All Feet on Deck!  Special thanks to PopChips and Honest Tea for donating to the event!  Pictures from the event are on Facebook and Picasa!