Boston Marathon: Voices Against Violence

So, things are starting to get real for me now. I just got an email telling me I got my first pick for a charity to raise funds for. Voices Against Violence is an organization that helps those who are suffering from domestic violence, and sexual abuse. I have heard stories from far too many friends that have suffered from this through my life. Now is my chance to help out, and make a difference! I am so excited to be able to help those in need. It makes running the Boston Marathon that much more special to me! I have had many friends offer up help, and I will be reaching out to everybody for ideas and help of any kind. The goal is 2,500, but I would like to see what I can do, and plan to surpass that amount. Alright enough about me. This is about the charity I chose to help as best I can.

About Voices

Voices' mission is to end sexual and domestic violence. Voices staff members work to empower victims and survivors to help themselves and their children. Program Advocates work in partnership with individuals and families to ensure their safety, create stable home environments, gain independence, and to develop personal and economic self-sufficiency. Voices is also a social change organization, working toward the elimination of violence on a societal level through community education, primary prevention and increased public awareness and action. Voices also works in close collaboration with public safety and criminal justice professionals throughout the region.
Voices is a proud core member of Jane Doe, Inc., the Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence

Services

Voices provides free and confidential services to victims and survivors of sexual and domestic violence in the MetroWest area. Services are provided in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and are available to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation.
Services include a 24-hour hotline, crisis intervention, confidential short term emergency shelter, counseling and support groups, information and referrals, and medical, legal and criminal justice advocacy. Voices also offers Supervised Vistation services on a sliding fee schedule through KidSpace. For more information about KidSpace, please call 508-962-2643.
In addition to direct services for victims and survivors, Voices conducts outreach and education to community groups and professionals, as well as primary prevention activities to address the root causes of violence and prevent the development of perpetration

 (these two paragraphs were pulled from their web site)

Some more info about this organization can be found on their web site here.

So keep me, and more importantly this organization in mind, It would mean the world to me, whatever help you can give!

Here is my fundraising link:

Until next time
Stay active
Stephen

Cupids Undie Run 2016: The bearded edition!

Thank you Heather, you started this whole thing

I am back again, doing Cupids Undie run, this time a few things have changed for me. It is still the same cause, to #endnf, Benefiting the Children's Tumor Foundation. For more info about the charity the money goes to, and it's research check out their web site, I have a link here with some info about NF.

So last time around, I was super shy about everything involved. I was shy about asking for money (figuring ways to get people to donate is not easy, but I got 150, I had to promise burpees, it only sorta worked). I was also shy about telling people what I was doing, I knew I would be with friends, so I was not overly insecure, but telling people at work, and asking for money, it felt too much. I only really got over it around the run. I had noticed that even though I did not know anybody with NF, that I had loved ones that knew people with it! My friend asked to share something about it on facebook, because their friend had it and just did it. So I officially did not feel bad, I knew it was for a good cause, and that I did some good (and had a whole lot of fun wile doing it).

Whitebeard attempt #1

This time around though, I had a better plan! This time around I have a giant beard, I mean massive, the biggest I have ever had in my life, it has been growing for  7.5 months!!! (I grew it to have the forest gump look for an ultra, and it worked!) I had been wanting to get rid of it for a wile now, like 2 months. But I figured, why not try and raise some funds before shaving it, so I put it on facebook, and said if I got 75 then I would cut off the beard. You see I had been getting grief about how long it was for months, and figured it would be incentive to get rid of it, WRONG! I had a few friends instantly ask "How much to save it?" so then I started a bidding war, because why not! I put 10 days on it, and did not expect much, I was hoping for 100 bucks all together. Well this is where things get interesting, One friend, took the picture I posted, and made a flattering status update, and donated money to my page, and asked for her friends to spare some money to save the beard as well. I was touched! it was awesome, and unexpected!! then shortly after, maybe an hour or two, one of my brothers shared it, and again, flattered me with compliments and asked to donate.Then my other brother, then a few friends shared my picture and link post as well. and the best part? IT WORKED, better than I would have ever thought, 200 bucks in about 24 hours! That is 50 bucks more than last year in a day. Man this beard was paying off. Only problem was that now, clean shaven was up by 5 bucks, a few days after the post, I was up to about 240, and I kinda wanted to keep it, you see my friend said she wanted a blackbeard for me, and I kinda liked the picture, and idea, because I will not grow one this long again, why not have fun with it before I shave it.

Before Glitter

So now, I am trying to figure out how to make it work. I make a few posts, try to get people to donate, but not be annoying. One friend said I should be festive for the holidays, and dye it white, again, anything for the cause, so I said if you donate, and the beard wins, you got it. So now I am at Black beard, White beard, and whatever else comes up to keep the beard and have my fun!

Glitter

Good Location

This is all their fault

Then it got interesting, so there is this thing that some people do, and put glitter in their beard, not my level of weird, I had no desire to ever do it. Until one day at a bar, for a fundraiser, a woman asked if she could glitter my beard, after saying no several times mind you. I said something to keep her quiet, sure if you can raise money for my charity, thinking it would not happen, we agreed to 300, and her, and a friend went to work. Oh man I instantly regretted it. I underestimated how much these people, many of them friends, wanted to torture me, and see a glitter beard, in Red, White, and Blue, even better (it was a team RWB event after all). So fun was had, I walked out, happily dreading the day, this happened on a Monday, and I took money for the charity, donated it, and agreed to glitter it on that Sunday, wile at another fundraiser for the same team, they really do good work, I am happy to be a part of the team, even if they make me glitter my beard! One of the women is picking up the glitter, and anything else that is needed, which is also awesome, all I had to do was show up. So now we add on the glitter beard, oh man, this has been one wild and crazy 10 day charity bidding war over a beard, and I am so happy to have raised over 500, even if it was because many of them want to torture me, at least I am doing good, and making people laugh, so all is well that ends well!

I do not usually like to much attention, so this has been weird, but awesome.

Glitter is meant to be shared right?

  Because it is the season

Because why not!

Whitebeard

If you want to donate to help #endnf the link is here

If you want to join me in febuary, and have fun here is a link to sign up:
https://my.cupids.org/register.asp?ref=40110

If you want motivation, there is still plenty of time to fund raise for this charity run, and here are some of the perks to raising funds 


Here is a link to the video of the magic of glitterbeard wile it happened

Also Huge thanks to Henry for most of the pictures, and David for the video! There were many others taking pictures, naturally, I mean how often do things like this happen, but the facetime during, was priceless, thank you all for the laughs, and donations through this. Even if most of you just wanted to humiliate me, I will still happily take it, it is the least I can do for a good cause!



 

So join me in the fun! And as always

Until Next time

Stay active

Stephen

Bridging Abilities Obstacle Challenge Review

Photo Credit: Henry Marte

So a wile ago a friend of mine (Amy Reichenbach) had an awesome idea, one that is no small feat. Starting her own charity ocr. Her decryption of the event is as follows:

About The Bridge Center:
The Bridge Center is a non-profit that specializes in affordable, year-round therapeutic recreation and equine-assisted therapy programs for individuals with disabilities. All proceeds from this event will directly support the participants that take part in Bridge Center programming.

About the race:
This spring, The Bridge Center is challenging runners, racers, and walkers of all ages and abilities to take part in our 1st annual Bridging Abilities Obstacle Challenge! This event will include a kids' race, an all-abilities fun run for individuals with disabilities and their families, and also a 5K obstacle race that will have racers jumping, climbing, and crawling around our property!

Highlights include:
· All participants awarded a medal and t-shirt!
· Course length options to suit anyone from children to elite runners
· Guest speaker adaptive athlete Geoff Krill, free childcare while you race, vendors, raffles, and food truck!
· Prizes for placing in our 5K Obstacle Race
· Opportunity to inspire and be inspired by our amazing young athletes!

she also had a virtual 5k, and  all to benefit the bridge center, in bridgewater, ma. Their web cite can be found here it is a great place. A while lot of work went into this event, with help from race local favorite F.I.T. Challenge,  and Gladiator Training Grounds (They both have races later this year). They had free child care, a food truck, a guest speaker Geoff Krill, as many laps as you wanted and carnival games for the kids. Needless to say there was a whole bunch going on that day.


So the race was one that was family friendly, and yet, you could still have a challenge, it was not too easy.
So the obstacles were a bunch of fun as well:slatted walls, tunnels, log balance beams, log carries, mud crawls, cargo net, a water bucket carry, a plank walk across a pond (I think about a 2x6) pull/paddle back across the pond, pick your poison, rock carry, wheel barrow weave, spider bars, hay bales,wall jump, big slatted wall,over under through walls, tire walk, more walls, a double up, and an 8 ft wall. So some of the big things are the Pick your Poison obstacle, which was great. It was an option of traverse rings, heavy overhead pull, with no pully, peg boards, various fourms of weighted, or unweighted box jumps, or step ups.

Double up Photo credit: Henry Marte

Spider Wall was also pretty cool, think a low hanging monkey bar, but they took out a bar to add to the challenge. Spider video here

Peg board Photo Credit: Jeanine Peirce

Traverse rings Photo credit: Jeanine Peirce

The course was 5k distance, and all flat, around the facility, and through the woods. There was plenty of mud, mostly ankle deep. The one spot that it got real muddy, was where you were supposed to crawl through for about 5 yards. Then across the water twice in fun ways, one was the short bridge, the other swim/float across. followed up with more trails, then into the barn, and back to the main area.

Muddy Crawl Photo Credit: Brianna Palardy

So now on to how it went, I got there after a few waves went out, and herd about a bunch of people getting lost. now this happens, but what doesn't happen you may ask? a volunteer walking up to somebody who just finished, asking for feedback, and then putting volunteers right where my friend said he got lost. So where he got lost, when I went around, an hour later, The course had the volunteers standing in the right spots, guiding s the whole way through! At the stat line, Stephen Mello, (who helped with course design, as well as other things I am sure) gave us the rundown of the courser, and where people were lost, kept an eye on us, over looking what was going on in his general area. So keep this in mind next year, it is an ocr, that is a whole bunch of fun, and helps to give back to a wonderful facility. Amy's hard work has payed off, in my opinion, she did a good job, and it did not feel like her first race.

So in summery, a good local ocr, that is fun, challenging, and helps with a great cause, and i hope this continues to be a success, in a world that can be challenging to make a charity ocr, she seems to have done it, which is no small feat!

Until next time,
Keep training
Stephen

500 For the Fallen Relay

So ever since I started running more, I have realized how awesome runners are, this week was just another example, it is another in a line of charity events that I was pleased to take part in. 500 for the fallen is a relay benefiting the children of fallen soldiers. By now I have become used to running with a group of people, and with several flags. the leg me and my friends ran was from wellesley town hall to framingham center. We followed 135, and we got so many honks of the horn and a few questions. But the high lite of this 6.8 mile run though?, as we were driving, a random woman driving by, in her pt cruiser. As she passed, she yelled out the window what we were running for, we explained for the children of fallen soldiers education and help, she pulled up just ahead, handed us a 5 dollar donation, and then honked as she drove away. That moment to me, made the event, a passing inquisitive comment, and a thank you from her, as well as many others! So this is not the first time I  have been out raising money for a cause (I did both Carry the Fallen and Cupids Undie Run) and you get used to the weird reactions, and questions, but that is the point, as well as raising money we want to raise awareness as well, otherwise we have only done half the work! So I am Posting this Asap for a few reasons, one to help them raise awareness because they are still doing this, I believe somewhere in ct at 11am on 5/22/15. and that it is coming up on Veterans day weekend, and we should never forget the things our soldiers have done for us.