Happy New Year from Team Sheila Dennis! We are starting the year off right by setting goals to increase our miles and improve our fitness. We have developed a training plan to get us ready for the races at the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon and 5K in March. Aside from making great progress in our runs many of our members are achieving terrific personal goals: Doris moved out of the facility into her own house and started taking her GED classes. We are so proud of her! Jackie and Alberta have also begun their GED classes, Marie has enrolled in a class at Community College of Philadelphia, and Christine and Greer (Pinky) are taking Computer classes at Honickman Learning Center.
This month we welcomed two new res members to team; Dawn and Sheila. Both came out running on day one bringing great energy to the circle. We were also joined by some new non-res teammates; Megan F., Stephanie, Laura, and Megan C. As we grow as a team we are getting stronger and building close bonds.
When we’re not running we are enjoying some fun time together as a team. This month’s social event was a night of bowling, pizza, and Sue’s homemade brownies at Pep Bowl! Good thing we don’t track our bowling scores like we do our miles because none of us are very good, but we sure had fun! Read more…
Team OBP brought December to a close with another fun month! We had new non-res Jackie and Les join our team, as well as new res member Steven who came over from Ridge! It was also a month of exciting transitions for Todd and Malik, two of our veteran runners who moved over to DePaul house and are running with the team over there! While they will be missed, we are very happy for them because this is a positive move in their lives! Read more…
Winter officially arrived in Philadelphia this December bringing with it cold winds and snow but none of this could slow down Team Ridge as they continued to put in the long miles.
December started with a race through West Chester, PA as Team Ridge participated in the 33rd Annual Brian’s Run. Katie, Randolph, Calvin, Mark, Liz, Shannon, Fiddy, Stefan, and Joe all braved the cold and hills to complete the 5 mile race. This was the first 5 mile race for both Randolph and Calvin and they did an amazing job with a challenging course. Thank you to Brian’s Run for inviting us to a great event. Read more…
From a quiet October spent putting in the miles, Team Ridge has stepped up its pace this November and shows no signs of slowing down.
The month was highlighted by the addition of three new faces to our morning circle. Randolph, Calvin, and Tarfari have all become part of the Back on My Feet family and continue to bring a positive energy with them to each run as they start to rack up the miles. Read 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.
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Compared to September with multiple races and events, October has been a quiet month for Team Ridge.
We spent the month building up our mileage for the Philly full and half marathons. This past weekend (Oct. 23rd) the BOMF family gathered with KPMG for a 5k fun run through historic Philadelphia. The route took us past Philly sites such as Elfreth’s Alley, the Liberty Bell and Reading Terminal. Fun was had by all and a special thanks goes out to Detours Touring Company for supplying us with an awesome course.
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What best describes the month of September for the Ridge Team? Awesome races!
The month started with the Tim Kerr 7 Mile Island 5k and 7 miler in Avalon, N.J. on September 5th. Ridge sent three res members to the race—Lavon and James in the 5k and Frank in the 7 miler. This was an extra special race for James because it was his very first 5k with BOMF! Frank stayed focused and ran well, almost breaking one hour for relatively out-and-back 7 mile course (his time was 1:00:08). Also competing in the race were Joe, Caitlin, Caryn, Tom, Laurel, Cathy and Katie.
After the race, BOMF took to the beach and had a blast hanging out by the water! It was a chance to relax in the sun with the other BOMF teams. We had a fabulous lunch, walked on the beach and built sandcastles.
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For each of our chapters, our Program Coordinator is often the first face that new members see.
Those coordinators visit our facilities, check in on all our teams to see that all is well and help coordinate the transition of our new members to the Next Steps program, where they enter education, jobs training, housing and other programs.
Recently, Austin Gee, one of the first five staff members of Back on My Feet left his role as Philadelphia Program Coordinator to return to teaching. While it was sad to see him go, we’ve been blessed to welcome a new passionate person with lots of enthusiasm for Back on My Feet.
This week, we welcomed on our new Philadelphia Program Coordinator Katie Pfeifer, who, like Gee, was a Ridge Team Leader.
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The month of August has flown by for Team Ridge! It seems like just yesterday we were at the Stroehmann Back on My Feet 20in24 working and running in the heat and now it’s almost September.
At the beginning of August, the team celebrated the launch of the new women’s team at the Shelia Dennis House with an inaugural run. It was wonderful to see the teams come together to show the newest BOMF members how welcome they are and how excited we are for them.
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Happy 3rd birthday Back On My Feet! The Ridge team celebrated with a family-wide relay race (we took 2nd place!) at City Hall on July 2nd. We enjoyed visiting with the other teams on a weekday and catching up with lots of people.
In preparation for the Stroehmann Back on My Feet 20in24, the team ran several long runs, both at the river loop and in Valley Green. Getting in extra miles on the weekends is definitely making a difference and will pay dividends in September and November for the Distance Run and Philadelphia Marathon.
The Ridge team participated in 20in24 in a huge way! Congratulations to everyone—and we had a lot of people—who competed despite the heat and humidity (even those of us running the midnight run felt it). Kenny, Fiddy, Lavon and Frank represented Ridge in the Bronze team relay race and finished in 6 hours, 14 minutes. Their individual times, respectively, were 1:20, 1:53, 1:40 and 1:21. They did an AMAZING job and worked very hard!!
A HUGE “congratulations” to Jule and Jordan who competed in the lone ranger competition—Jule completed 76 miles and Jordan ran 93!! Ridge was also represented by a non-res relay team (including some people running on other teams with friends), as well as in the Midnight Madness and Pajama Run!! Congratulations to everyone who competed!!
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