The sound of dimly lit street lamps buzzing in the darkness of the chilled morning air can be heard for miles. No cars are existent at the intersection of West and Washington in downtown Indianapolis. The waters of the canal below gently ripple with the crisp breeze that sweeps across and through surrounding foliage.

All is calm this morning. This morning of March 8 is sure to be a promising one for the man who waits on the corner of West and Washington.

Wearing brand new tennis shoes and navy blue sweat suit, the man awaits the moment, the moment that he and hundreds of locals have been waiting to celebrate together.

The man rises to his feet and begins to jog to the west, where those locals await him. Jogging. The simple act of jogging with a community is what this day is all about for him.

“Woo hoo! Now we’re talkin’!” Wylie Belasik said through a bull horn borrowed from headquarters. “Man, does Indy have spirit.”

To some, encouragement is the key to their success in everything they do. For this man, the small gesture of gathering together in a circle is all it takes.  People of different backgrounds, races, and religions gathering together, forming one community was all it took. Read more…

What a weekend! Dallas, and Texas, is buzzing with the news of the Back on My Feet launch and we are excited to offer up this brief but all encompassing recap of events that led to our first chapter in the Lone Star State.

Run On!, the Dallas chapter’s running store partner, hosted a shoe fitting on Saturday morning for 30 of our residential members and offered up beanies, t-shirts, shoes and socks. Needless to say, the store was packed with members from all over Dallas and included some of our very good friends from New Balance. Run On! was extremely accommodating and had seven employees come in to help with the fitting . The local Einstein’s also donated breakfast for everyone. The shoe fitting was an excellent example of how multiple companies in Dallas gave what they could and produced an outstanding and far-reaching event! You can see more photos from the shoe fitting here. Our residential members were literally dancing in the aisles of the store. Thank you Run On!, New Balance and Einstein’s!

Of course all of the energy from the morning shoe fitting carried over to the actual launch run on Monday morning. Yes, it was Valentine ’s Day, but many of our members were preoccupied with what some have confirmed as one of the most important moments of their lives. The Monday morning run began with 100+ members at the Main Street Garden Park in downtown Dallas at 5:45 a.m. led by Wylie Belasik, VP of Programming and cowboy hat enthusiast, the run started with television cameras from channels 4, 5, 11 and 33. Look to this blog for some of the exciting media coverage in the future!

After the one mile run, ACE Cash Express executives were excited to hand over a check in the amount of $18,000 to Anne and the rest of the Back on My Feet Dallas team.  We could not have pulled off the launch without the extensive help of our sponsors. They are incredibly supportive and have been our biggest advocates. Thank you ACE, Accenture, Marriott and Holt Lunsford Commercial!

Registration for breakfast began promptly at 8 a.m. at the Marriott City Center in Dallas. The Marriott team worked with the Dallas team almost every day for the month leading up to the event and the work paid off as guests were treated to 600+ gift bags, t-shirts, water bottles and a hot breakfast.

The program featured Terri Dolan of Marriott, Jay Shipowitz of ACE Cash Express, Mike Rawlings, a Dallas mayoral candidate, Kevin Pollari of Accenture, Anne Mahlum and Charlie Tiller, a Baltimore alumni member. The entire audience was mesmerized by Charlie’s story and gave him a standing ovation at the end of his speech.

As they say, everything is bigger in Texas, and this launch did not disappoint. The people of Dallas are excited and eagerly connecting with the Back on My Feet team to learn more and get involved. Look here for more great news from Texas!

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.

Read more…

Our Baltimore chapter had a big presence at last week’s Baltimore Running Festival.

After WBAL previewed two of our THUMB crew runners, the chapter had a big pre-race dinner and hit the streets for the marathon and other runs.

We had 50 members and more than 100 volunteers running in the festival. See the photos here and video below.

Read more…

Philadelphia Executive Director Sera Snyder, who ran her first marathon in Oklahoma, Member Malik, Assistant to the President Sean Massenberg, Program Director Owen Camuso, who completed his first marathon in Chicago, Program Coordinator Katie Pfeifer, Alumnus Kenny Herder and Member Services Director Kristen Gallagher.

Surely buoyed by a bright and cheery send off on Friday morning, two Philadelphia chapter staff members completed their first marathons this weekend.

Philadelphia Executive Director Sera Snyder finished the Route 66 Marathon in 4:14, and Owen Camuso finished the Chicago Marathon in 4:33, both of whom did so in warm weather.

Vice President of Programming Wylie Belasik placed in the top 100, finishing at 2:31 at the Chicago Marathon, a personal record.

Below, watch video of the send off that Snyder and Camuso received from Philadelphia Team Leaders, in addition to other in from Back on My Feet who ran Chicago.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

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.

Read more…

The DC chapter of Back on My Feet is proud to announce the addition of its fifth team: La Casa!

On Monday June 28th, new residential and non-residential members will meet for the first time at the morning circle and hit the streets of Columbia Heights.

“We’re thrilled to be able to extend the BOMF program to Columbia Heights here in DC and be a part of such a vibrant and diverse community” said Program Director Wylie Belasik.

The La Casa team will be the fifth to start in DC and the third facility run by the DC Coalition for the Homeless.  La Casa is a transitional rehabilitation program that provides residential services for men throughout their recovery.  It is one of the few bilingual shelters in the city and the first for BOMF DC!

Team organizer from 801 East and native Venezuelan, Monika S. has stepped up to be La Casa’s team leader and Linda M. from Clean and Sober Streets will assume team organizer.

The team will meet every Monday, Wednesday Friday at 5:45 a.m.  If you are interested in running with the team sign up here.

Washington DC chapter Program Director, Wylie Belasik, appeared on the new web show, Gotta Get Running.

Belasik speaks about how Back on My Feet began and gives a synopsis of our organization’s mission.

To view the episode:

Click here for part 1.

Click here for part 2.

Click here for part 3.

Click here for part 4.

Click here for part 5.

Click here for part 6.

Back on My Feet Washington D.C. is seeking an experienced and passionate individual to fill its Program Director role.

Find the details here.

Former D.C. Program Director Wylie Belasik has been promoted to the national role of Senior Program Director, a new role in which he will manage, train and lead program directors in each city.