With the holiday season in full swing, we wanted to use the power of the CrossFit Southie community to help spread some cheer and good within our greater Boston area. We’ve always had overwhelming responses to any type of fundraising/drives we’ve had in the past, and we know this will be no different. This year, we’ll be collecting food to donate to the Greater Boston Food Bank. We’ll also be collecting other items to support the young girls living at Germain Lawrence, where Andrea Cooke works. Please read below for more details on the two drives and how you can get involved. Collection boxes will be located by the front desk in Southie Green and we can’t wait to see them filled to the brim!
CFS Holiday Meal Drive to Benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank
Local CrossFitter Heather Soukas has reached out to several Boston-area CrossFit gyms to help support the Greater Boston Food Bank during this holiday season. Of course we are on board! One in nine people in Eastern Massachusetts don’t know where their next meal will come from. In children, that stat rises to one in four. Let’s do our part to help them out this winter!
Below are some nonperishable food items for donation to families in the greater Boston area:
-Meals in a can (soup, stew, chili)
-Tuna or canned chicken
-Peanut Butter
-Canned foods with pop-top lids
-Canned fruit in it’s own juice or water
-Canned vegetables
-Olive or canola oil
-Spices
-Whole grain cereals
If you’d prefer to donate online, you can by clicking HERE. $20 provides a holiday meal for a family of five! We thank you in advance for your support.
CFS Holiday Drive to Benefit Germaine Lawrence
Below is a note from Coach Andrea Cooke. When she’s not here training hard and making us all laugh, she does some very difficult and important work as a clinician at Germain Lawrence. This year, we’ll be running a holiday drive to benefit the girls she works with each day. Please read below for a note from Andrea…
As you may be aware of, the holiday season is approaching, the red cups are out, and everyone is way too excited for cold weather 🙂 Unfortunately, where I work, the holiday season isn’t always as joyful. I am a clinician at Germaine Lawrence, a residential treatment center for adolescent girls between the ages of 11-18. All of my kids are amazing, intelligent, insightful and have admirable goals and dreams, but unfortunately have dealt with some tough stuff in their lives. We take in a lot of girls who have bounced around between foster homes, have runaway and/or gone missing, have little or no family connection, have abuse in their pasts, and struggle with mental illnesses. I feel very lucky and honored to be their clinician; to witness their resilience, hope, and courage. As you can probably assume, the holiday season can be a bit depressing for a lot of them. Most of the kiddos will remain on campus for the holidays and do not have much access to the community.
I only have about 8 girls on my caseload, but there are close to 100 on campus and I want to make this holiday season a fun and special time for all of them, especially when they are living in a foreign place and among people they don’t necessarily want to be with. So many of you helped me out by donating iPods and I wish I could verbalize how appreciative and overjoyed the girls were to receive them. Listening to music helps them work through their anxiety and stress and practice their coping skills; I am so thankful for your kindness.
This may be early to begin thinking about the holidays, but I was hoping that in the next month or so you could make note of some possessions you may have laying around that you no longer use and would like to donate. Below is a list of recommended items to donate, things that I know the girls would love. I see where everything goes and who they go to and would never ask for things that I know they wouldn’t make use of. All the items below would be beneficial and very much appreciated by the girls.
Around Christmas time, I will give the girls all of your donated gifts! Please, don’t feel any pressure at all to donate or donate a massive amount. Anything is appreciated! Also, feel free to ask me any questions; you can usually find me bopping around the gym at night. Thanks so much!!
Recommended donations:
· Old or new iPods/mp3 players (Still taking these in. Do not worry about a charger, we have enough on campus that are compatible with most iPods.)
· DVD’s (movies/TV seasons) for teenage girls (nothing R)
· Winter clothes/accessories, mittens, gloves, scarves, hats, jacket, boots.
· Art supplies (adult coloring books, markers, pens)
· Small gift certificates (5 dollars or so) to starbucks, DD, walgreens, cvs (some of the girls are given ‘community access’ and able to take walks by themselves and like to go to some of these places in the area)
· Journals
· New/Gently Used clothes for teenage girls
· Games (decks of cards, boardgames, etc.)
WOD
2 Rounds
750m Row
600m Run
75 Double Unders
Rest 1 Minute
500m Row
400m Run
50 Double Unders
Rest 2 Minutes
Rainy Day Running Subs
1 mile Bike / .75 mile bike
or
40 Burpees / 30 Burpees