STRIDES students at United Way's HomeWalk 5k

From community outreach coordinator, Liz Ruppel:

The 10-week fall season of STRIDES is nearing a conclusion, and we’re gearing up for the final, culminating 5k race. The students will be traveling to Exposition Park on November 19 to participate in the United Way’s “HomeWalk” 5k. At the race, they’ll have the opportunity to work on meeting the goals they set at the beginning of the season. Importantly, they’ll also get the chance to celebrate their achievements – both as they’re introduced and recognized during the pre-race program and while they cross the finish line.

The United Way of Greater Los Angeles works to end homelessness in L.A. Over the past four years, over 18,000 people have participated in its HomeWalk 5k, and the United Way has raised $1.7 million. The race has had quite an effect; the United Way has used the funds to move 9,000 people into permanent housing.

We’re excited to be involved with this great event, and we're looking forward to Saturday's race!

If you're interested in coming out to support the STRIDES participants, visit the HomeWalk 2011 website for event details.

Co-Founders Present at American Public Health Association Conference

STRIDES co-founders, Ashley Roberts and Anne Sutkowi, will be presenting at the annual conference of the American Public Health Association in Washington, D.C. on October 31, 2011. The conference theme is "Healthy Communities Promote Healthy Minds and Bodies," which is a perfect fit for the mission and goals of the STRIDES program.

The presentation, titled "STRIDES: Individual- and Community-level Suicide Prevention for At-Risk Youth," will inform conference attendees about the STRIDES program, lessons that were learned during the first year of the program, and recommendations Ashley and Anne have for people who want to start the program in their communities.

We are excited for the opportunity to continue spreading the word about our program and the need for programs like these in alternative schools across the country!

STRIDES Fall 2011 Kickoff

Strides coaches, Rose Hennessy and Ashley Arax, are happy to announce that the fall 2011 season is off to a great start at Olympic High School! We welcomed old and new faces to the program as the first lessons on nutrition, exercise, and goal setting were presented. Students were excited to learn how to measure their heart rates, and to see just how much the rates went up as they increased their efforts from walking to jogging to running.

This week the training continues as we tackle routes over a mile. Look for us on the streets of Santa Monica as we gear up for the 5K, making strides toward our goals!

Click to help STRIDES secure $2,500!

STRIDES runs on a shoestring budget with help from people like you. But in order to stay at Olympic High School and expand to additional continuation high schools, we're doing our best to diversify our funding. We've found an exciting new way for you to support the continued implementation STRIDES, and it just takes one click!

GOOD and EPIP L.A. want to celebrate the awesome efforts that are moving Los Angeles forward with a $2,500 grant. STRIDES is in the running for this funding, but securing the money requires your support by voting for our idea! Only one idea will win, so please click through here to vote for us*. You can also help by posting the link (http://goodla.maker.good.is/projects/strides) in your Facebook profile, tweeting about it (our handle is @STRIDES_LA), or shooting an email off to your friends and family encouraging them to support our program. Every vote counts!

Thank you so much for all of your support and cross your fingers for us!

*Note: GOOD's system seems to work best on Firefox. They've also been having some issues with error messages. If you sign up before submitting your vote (this takes less than one minute), things go more smoothly.

Mark your calendars for the 2nd Annual STRIDES 5k Run/Walk!

We are excited to announce that our 2nd Annual STRIDES 5k Run/Walk will take place on Sunday, November 20 at Dockweiler State Beach! Our community outreach volunteers have been hard at work this summer securing an event permit for the site, the equipment we need to make the big day happen, and the Adidas dry fit t-shirts you'll get if you register.

This day will again serve as the culminating event for STRIDES students at Olympic Continuation High School, who will be training with our coaches during the 10 weeks leading up to the 5k. By participating in the event, you can not only show your support for our students' accomplishment but also increase awareness about suicide prevention in your community.

We will update you when the event registration page opens (coming soon!). Can't wait to see you out there - with your friends and family, of course - again this year!

Fall Season 2011 Starting Soon!

Our wonderful STRIDES coaches - Ashley Arax and Rose Hennesey - are getting prepared for another great season at Olympic High School. STRIDES sessions will begin on September 12 and last for 10 weeks in preparation for the 2nd Annual STRIDES 5k Run/Walk on Sunday, November 20. We are expecting at least a couple veteran STRIDES participants. Several students from the spring season have expressed interest in participating again in the fall. We are so excited that Olympic High School wants to continue the program, and even more excited that students want to participate again! A couple of students have already let us know that they have a new goal for this next season. We cannot wait to see what they are capable of and look forward to seeing what new students will bring to group!

We may need help with running shoes and sports bras again. Please hang on to any slightly used gear you have, and we will ask our supporters for help when we have an idea of what we need. Thanks again for everyone's support last year and we hope you can continue to support the program by spreading the word and coming out to the 5k in November!

STRIDES Spring Season Wrap Up

What a season! Spring season was a little easier on us because we weren't planning the STRIDES 5k in addition to coaching. This allowed us to enjoy running in a community 5k along with the students! We were joined by eight STRIDES participants for the Every Child Matters 5k Run/Walk at Loyola Marymount University. We are so proud of the efforts made by all of the students to be there and give it their best!

We were joined by several Olympic High School staff, including Marcia Gecht (the health teacher who joins us on all our training run/walks and welcomes us each Monday and Wednesday in her classroom), Janie Gates (the principal), Mark Harris (the school's guitar teacher) and Diane Palkovic (an instructional assistant). We were also joined by the 2011-2012 Community Outreach Coordinator for STRIDES - Liz Ruppel - who was a huge support for the students. Even one of the participants' parents came out to support the group!

We would also like to extend a huge congratulations out to three of our STRIDES participants who graduated high school on June 20. Ashley and I attended the ceremony and were so proud of Joana, Joe, and AJ! We wish them good luck and know they will go on to do amazing things.