Gael Henville leading the Boston chapter's inaugural run on May 24, 2010. Photo by John Deputy.
The team leader of the Boston chapter’s New England Center for Homeless Veterans, Gael Henville, bravely spoke to those in attendance at last month’s first Orientation 2.0
Henville, now 41, was homeless for seven months due to finally leaving an abusive relationship, having “sought self-validation” through an addiction to abuse from age 19 to 35.
Amos Marshall speaks at the first Back on My Feet Boston Orientation 2.0, a forum in which issues of homelessness.
Drinking was a long partner in Amos Marshall losing “the best jobs” and fizzling a marriage.
Now he’s on the long road to recovery.
At Boston’s first Orientation 2.0, a forum to engage the community on the challenges and solutions of homelessness, Marshall spoke about his own path, which you can watch below.
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.
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
Every Friday, the Back on My Feet blog will feature a roundup of timely, prominent homelessness news, issues, concepts and trends from across the country and world. Subscribe to content regarding homelessness by way of either an RSS feed or e-mail blast.
A Thanksgiving ministry meal for the homeless in Knoxville, which you can watch below.
Find past roundups of homelessness news here.
Our Founder and President Anne Mahlum wrote an op-ed for CNN.com:
Three and a half years ago, I ran a mile with nine men who were living at the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission in Philadelphia,. Wanting to start a running club at this homeless shelter came from passing this facility on my morning run and seeing a group of men congregating outside on the corner.
I was quickly drawn to them as they reminded me a lot of my dad, who I love dearly but unfortunately has suffered from addiction to drugs, alcohol and gambling for much of his life.
My dad and I have always had a very special, sarcastic rapport and one of the hardest things I have gone through was being a teenager and not being able to figure out a way to save my dad from his gambling addiction, which ended up tearing apart our family. MORE
Read the rest here.
A Boston member during the chapter's inaugural run March 24, 2010. Photo by John Deputy.
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.
Jacqueline Kenyon is a case manager for the women’s re-entry program at Boston Rescue Mission, a hairdresser for the past 23 years who now does so for the elderly, and Team Captain of the St. Francis House Back on My Feet Team in Boston.
She was honored earlier this month as Boston’s Chapter Member of the Month for October 2010. Watch her talk about her background here and below read about her experiences with homelessness and Back on My Feet.
As Vice President of Programming Wylie Belasik speaks at the inaugural Chicago chapter run, Philadelphia member Kenny Herder waits on.
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.
Kenny’s story is a remarkable one.
When Kenny joined BOMF in September of 2008, he was still struggling with his bi-polar disorder and self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. However, instead of turning inward, Kenny grew outward.
Though his journey hasn’t been without bumps, he now lives independently with his brother and has been employed for more than a year without missing a day of work. Kenny remains active in the BOMF program and recently spoke at the launch of the Chicago chapter.
Below, we speak to Kenny about homelessness, Back on My Feet and feature a video interview with him about his journey.
Every Friday, the Back on My Feet blog will feature a roundup of timely, prominent homelessness news, issues, concepts and trends from across the country and world. Subscribe to content regarding homelessness by way of either an RSS feed or e-mail blast.
Below, events for National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week and more.
Boston's October Member of the Month Jackie Kenyon in May 2010, during the chapter's pre-launch gear fitting. Photo by John Deputy
Jacqueline Kenyon is a case manager for the women’s re-entry program at Boston Rescue Mission, a hairdresser for the past 23 years who now does so for the elderly, and Team Captain of the St. Francis House Back on My Feet Team in Boston.
She is originally from Concord, New Hampshire and was raised in an alcoholic home and moved to Boston in 2003 at which point her life fell apart. She relapsed and became homeless.
After incarceration, she made the decision to change her life patterns and joined Back on My Feet as one way to engage herself in the positive and the hopeful.
