It Started With a Walk

Every once in a while, something happens that is so inspirational it is worth sharing. This is one of those stories.

Lori, a Longleaf neighbor, started walking over three years ago. The daily jaunt started for her out of a desire to participate in the 39 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Chicago as a tribute to a close friend that was diagnosed with breast cancer. Lori’s philosophy is “anyone can do this. All it requires is a good pair of sneakers!” Lori made that 2-day walk and then set out to travel to a new destination each year to participate again. Her creative endeavors to raise monies for her team centered around gift baskets full of certificates from local merchants and downtown Longleaf shop items that neighbors and friends would bid on.

But, it didn’t stop with Longleaf.

Everyone at Lori’s work place knew of her walking aspiration, and when co-workers expressed interest, Lori presented a plan to human resources that could make walking fun and a challenge to the whole company. Her strategy was simply to have people be aware of how many steps they took a day, tally it up and make it be a friendly competition between all.  “Walking is no cost, builds communication among participants and promotes healthy living”. Throw in the incentive that cans of food would be donated based upon level of walking to the Metropolitan Ministries food bank, and it was a win/win for all. Lori asked if her company, Sterling Payment Technologies, could donate pedometers for participants, and Lori sent out a note to all employees letting them know of the challenge. Thinking she would get maybe 40-50 people max, Lori was amazed at the reaction of the initial 112 people who signed up at the first shot! Participants were ultimately split into teams of 4-6. There were 19 teams in all. Each team came up with a name, and the company health insurer, Great West Healthcare, paid for all of the pedometers. The rule was everyone wore their pedometer 24/7 and every Monday morning pedometer numbers were sent to Lori, who would consolidate and list top walkers on a public board. Each week the winning team and the “Top Walker” got a prize. The excitement and competition grew, and Great West Healthcare Insurance donated exercise balls and other small equipment. Prizes centered on healthy choices for eating. Even though the program ran for 6 weeks, competitiveness kicked in, and people who never used the stairs were clogging up stairwells! The lowest 3 teams each week were charged with donating a can of food each to the charity, Metropolitan Ministries. And, cans of food were generated based off of the number of steps walked, with 600 lbs of food donated within 6 weeks… one of the largest  donations of food Metropolitan Ministries has ever received in that period of time!

Because of Lori’s motivation, friendly competition and the opportunity to help those in need, this was a heartfelt win for Sterling Payment Technologies and for good workplace camaraderie. Sterling Payment Technologies is located on 6 floors, and this effort encouraged interaction among staff on all six floors.

Lori plans to do this event again with a new charity to support.

And then Lori goes to the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer event. She meets survivors who have stories that inspire her. One out of eight women gets breast cancer. Walkers help each other along, supporting each other to finish 2 days and over 39 miles later. Along the way friendships are built, and the feeling of coming across the finish line with 100’s of people cheering you on… dispels any negative that goes on in the world.

Lori’s goal is to do all 9 Avon walks. This year’s walk is in San Francisco, California on July 11^th and 12^th. This year, the challenge is hills. Somehow I don’t think that will stop my friend… who simply started with a walk.

Click here to visit Lori’s site for the San Francisco Avon Walk for Breast Cancer event.