Running for Hope founder Brenda Noble shares her inspiration for creating a running community for people experiencing homelessness in Anchorage, Alaska, and the way it’s changing lives.

(Feature photo courtesy of Brenda Noble/Running for Hope)

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Community and accountability. It’s often why we join a run club. These two elements motivate us to stay fit and train toward our goals alongside the support of others on a similar journey.

When someone has hit rock bottom, having a community to uplift them and provide needed accountability as they work to get back on their feet is needed more than ever — but in many cases, harder to find.

Longtime runner Brenda Noble realized this while volunteering at a soup kitchen and witnessing the cycle of homelessness. The experience prompted her to start Running for Hope, a nonprofit running group for people experiencing homelessness in Anchorage, Alaska.

“I learned years ago that running, especially when done consistently and early in the day, helped me make and reach goals, stave off depression and winter blues, manage grief, and in general be a happier and healthier me,” says Brenda. “Running with a running group is a key part of those benefits, giving accountability and providing community to people.”

Running for Hope runs three mornings a week, led by volunteer runners who have completed safety and sensitivity training. Operating from a women’s shelter, most participants are women, but the group is open to anyone.

Committing to these three weekly runs provides consistency, discipline, and the health and mental benefits of running with a community. The opportunity to participate in a race or two throughout the year also gives members a goal to train for and achieve.

“Our purpose is to give them something to hold onto, attainable goals to help them know they can still have control over their lives, and whatever help we can provide to get them there — even if it is just a pair of running shoes,” says Brenda.

As a nonprofit, Running for Hope accepts donations, which go toward providing transportation to members so they can get to their jobs and therapy appointments. The group also gets help from local businesses. Skinny Raven Sports, for instance, donates shoes and gear to members.

Below, Brenda shares more about Running for Hope’s weekly running program and how it’s changing the lives of people who are experiencing homelessness in her community.

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What inspired you to start Running for Hope?

Brenda Noble: I had been volunteering in a local shelter and soup kitchen and felt frustrated by the constant cycle homelessness presents — the difficulty members of our community, once homeless, seem to get stuck in.

A friend [Allison Smith] and I learned of a program called Back On My Feet operating in [many] large cities in the lower 48 using an early morning running program to change the lives of homeless people. With corporate sponsors, they were helping people build habits of discipline, consistency, and health while providing a supportive running community and using incentives that helped with job training, transportation assistance, and housing help. We thought perhaps a program like Back on My Feet could be a positive thing for the Anchorage homeless population.

[In 2018] we assembled a board, created a program of early morning running with guidelines and incentives for people dealing with homelessness, and connected with a shelter to see if they would help us implement it.

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How does the weekly running program work?

Brenda Noble: We partner volunteers from the community with people dealing with homelessness in a program of consistent early morning runs. Runners commit to participating with our group for early morning runs three days a week for at least 30 days.

By running consistently in the early morning, participants receive the physical benefits of running as well as emotional and mental benefits that come from being part of a group of runners. Consistency, discipline, and support create opportunities for life-changing habits that translate directly to greater stability and employability for our runners.

The number of our participants varies widely. Some mornings we have 12 people. Some mornings we have just two. We show up no matter how many are signed up and no matter the weather. Getting out and battling the elements is just another element to helping them feel like they can conquer this world and whatever it throws at them.

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Do group members have to be runners?

Brenda Noble: We meet participants where they are at physically. Sometimes that means they start walking with us and eventually build to running. Some start out shuffling or using a walker and move towards improved mobility. We take anyone where they are at and help them improve.

So, although we were initially a running group, we are not always running. It all depends on our current participants and where they are at in their own goals. We try to always have two volunteers on our runs so that those who run have someone to run with and those that walk have someone to walk with.

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Can you share some stories of how Running for Hope has helped its members get back on their feet and out of the cycle of homelessness?

Brenda Noble: Megan was one of our first runners. She had dealt with years of addictions that led to arrests and jail and had lost her children. She began running with us and, over the course of about a year, completed two races, overcame her addictions, completed a culinary arts training program through a local shelter, became employed, and eventually moved back to her home in Tennessee where she has since been able to rekindle a relationship with her children and was recently named employee of the month at her food service job.

Melissa started with our group using a walker. She had severe neuropathy caused by an infection. She had been widowed, lost her children in the wake of her grief, been unable to work due to the neuropathy, and then in a spiral of alcoholism and depression, lost everything else. When we met her, she had been living at the shelter for a few months.

Over the course of a year and half, Melissa went from using a walker on our walks to using trekking poles. She completed three races and her consistent participation led to her transitioning to being a volunteer and helping to lead the group.

We have had about 300 people, mostly women, participate in our program in the last six years. Many battle addictions, mental health issues, abuse, loss of support systems, and spiral into a cycle where it seems there is no help and no way out. Sometimes what someone needs most is someone to believe in them, walk or run beside them, and to keep hope alive.

If you live in Anchorage and want to volunteer with Running for Hope, contact Brenda and her team on Instagram or Facebook.

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