Back On My Feet
|  Video
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| Amanda Tetlak |
| 10/28/2009 |
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| We often think we know how our life is going to turn out. For one Bismarck High School graduate, life is very different than she ever expected it would be. And she shared her story with current students of her Alma Mater today. Anne Mahlum is a graduate of Bismarck High School. And she talking to students about how she was able to launch a unique non-profit organization that helps homeless people get back on their feet. Mahlum loves to run. She says it was a way for her to deal with her family problems. And that passion for running is now helping to make a difference in the lives of homeless people. "I didn`t have a huge desire to help the homeless, but I saw these guys who reminded me so much of my father struggling with addiction and I thought running helped me so much with that. I want to give it back. I want to share it," says Mahlum. Mahlum was weeks away from starting a lucrative corporate job in Philadelphia. But instead, she followed her heart and her feet and founded "Back On My Feet," a non-profit organization that promotes the self-sufficiency of homeless people by using running as a means to build their confidence. "In deciding to do this was going against what everybody was telling me. Here`s this corporate job. Go do this. Go make money and I thought `You know, that doesn`t seem to make me happy.` I feel nothing when you say that, but doing this running and helping people, I gotta figure out a way to make that work," Mahlum says. And she did. In two years the organization has grown to 170 members in Philadelphia and Baltimore. And she was named CNN`s top 10 heroes of the year, an accomplishment that is inspiring to her student audience. "She came from Bismarck High and now she`s making a difference in a big city like Philadelphia," says senior Nick Jolliffe. "It makes me want to go out there and make a difference with one little thing and just keep pushing and striving to do something that amazing," says junior Macy Gunderson. And Mahlum says to actually make a difference, sometimes you just have to go out on a limb. Mahlum is launching a third chapter in Washington DC next year. Visit http://www.backonmyfeet.org. to find out how you can help. |
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