This past Friday, August 30, 2019, leading into Labor Day more than two hundred individuals and their families laced up their sneakers and took to the pavement to challenge life in the Hope is Built 5K. The Run Life’s Course (RLC) group hosted the 3rd charity race to benefit Back on My Feet (BOMF) in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park to raise awareness and increase opportunities for the homeless returning to normalcy through job training, financial literacy, job and housing placement provided through Back on My Feet.
Temeko Richardson, CEO of the RLC Group and founder of Run Life’s Course, explains “with the closing of shelters in the past two years, Atlanta’s Back On My Feet chapter, partnered with three shelters and many volunteers to run with the members and offer the hope that the members need to continue working hard and putting forth all their effort into moving into employment and housing.” The Hope is Built 5K was about “giving hope to anyone who may have lost it along the way and creating an experience for all participants to feel as though they are winning in one area of their life after continuous moments of losing,” and consisted of hundreds of participants, some of whom are currently homeless. After the race refreshments and breakfast were provided by Smooth and Groove, while open discussion on entrepreneurship and financial literacy transpired to encourage the members of Back on My Feet and all participants to continue to labor and make a change in their life.
Today, we all come together to participate in #MedalMonday and celebrate our participants in the Hope is Built 5K and the growth and success from participating in and completing this race. We would love to take this opportunity to congratulate the overall winner in 19:37, BOMF volunteer, Ms. Alison Lerer, and our second place winner, BOMF’s very own member, Kenji Shoeboot in 20:51. We thank you and celebrate you all for your sacrifice and contribution in making a difference in the world and more importantly the lives of others. As Richardson stated, “God did not place us here for us to not show compassion to others,” and it is in the compassion for others that we can continue to provide education, employment, and housing. Through the goodwill of the RLC group, Back on My Feet, Grady High School Athletic Dept., many runners, walkers, and sponsors, more than $8,000 were raised to continue to provide resources and opportunities to those that have fallen on hard times.
The challenge is now on you to Run Life’s Course. Join the movement and register for the Purpose Run at one of the participating organizations websites.
Check out Run Life’s Course and Back on My Feet.