“Everybody wants to be loved and be a part of a community… All of us know that as soon as you show up at a run, everybody’s a runner.”
Back On My Feet is a running club for the homeless and their friends with chapters in Philadelphia, Washinton DC, and Baltimore.
I like this from their website:
BOMF does not provide food for the homeless nor does it provide shelter. While those are very important basic needs that all human beings deserve, we provide a program that teaches people to believe in themselves because it doesn’t matter if you have 20 homes or 0 homes; if you don’t have confidence in yourself it’s very difficult to move forward.
We use running as a vehicle to show individuals they are capable of accomplishing anything…but it’s not going to happen overnight – it takes hard work, dedication and perseverance. BOMF focuses heavily on teamwork – when we run, we run as a family and we support, encourage and motivate each other every step of the way. No one ever runs by themselves because life is a lot harder when you go through it alone.
