RISE Housing and Support Services is committed to employee wellness. To encourage wellness in all areas of our lives, RISE declared February as Wellness Month and our staff was presented with several wellness challenges to participate in. These were very well received and created a great sense of comradery throughout the agency, so much so that our staff started suggesting other type of challenges they would like to participate in and new wellness challenges were created each month.

February Challenges

Biggest Loser

This challenge was all about weight loss. It ran for four weeks with confidential check-ins every Monday. Everyone worked hard to eat healthy, exercise, and shed those winter pounds.

The biggest Loser for the month of February was Leslie Ives!

Leslie celebrated her victory by paddling her kayak on the lake this summer!

Get a Goal Challenge

The “Get a Goal Challenge” was all about setting personal goals and achieving them. Our staff was asked to set personal goals that were achievable during the month of February. Participants listed their goals in the Goal Tracker and reported their progress each week.

Here are a few of the goals our staff members set and achieved!

Read a book in its entirety.

Drink a set amount of water each day.

Walk a set amount of miles each week.

Attain an “A” in a particular course.

Do yoga three times per week.

Do something new each week.

Feet on the Ground Challenge

The “Feet on the Ground” walking challenge was to walk the most miles in February.

Melodie strapped on snowshoes and took her walking into the snowy woods!

Feet on the Ground Challenge Winners

Place	Walkers	Miles
1st Place	Rik Jordon	103
2nd Place	Amy Perkins	85

Rik and Amy show off their “Feet on the Ground Challenge” Awards

March Wellness Challenges

Spring Door Decorating Challenge

The “Spring Door Decorating Challenge” was a mental health wellness challenge to help staff push through the end of winter/beginning of spring doldrums.

Leslie and Liz’s First Place Butterfly Door

The Spring Door Decorating Challenge Winners

Places	Door Decorators
1st Place	Leslie Ives & Elizabeth McFarren’s Door
2nd Place Tie	Erika Straight’s Door and Amber Pfeiffer’s Door

Erika’s “Spring Showers Help Flowers RISE” Door

Amber and Andy peeking out the window of Amber’s Sunflowers and Butterflies Door

Walk to the Sunrise Challenge

The goal of the “Walk to the Sunrise Challenge” was to walk enough miles to see the sunrise on the coast of Maine. Milestone were set along the way from the RISE office in Saratoga Springs to the coast of Maine to view the Sunrise. Can anyone guess who walked enough miles to reach the coast?

Milestone One	Bennington, Vermont	44.8 miles
Milestone Two	Concord, Massachusetts	153.9 miles
Milestone Three	Kittery Point, Maine	219 miles

The Walk to the Sunrise Challenge Winners

If you guessed Rik, you were correct!

Places	Name	Miles	Destination Reached
1st Place	Rik Jordan	289.9	Kittery Point
2nd Place	Amy Perkins	151.67	Concord
3rd Place	Ian Vonie	125.56	Bennington

May Wellness Challenges

Beat Rik Challenge

The goal of the “Beat Rik Challenge” was for teams of two walkers to beat Rik Jordan’s total miles for the month but no team was able to beat this “Miles Master” who won the previous two month’s walking challenge. But alas, even with two people teaming up together, Rik was unbeatable!

The Teams who came the closest to Beating Rik!

Places	Teams	Miles
The One to Beat!	Rik Jordan	620.6
1st Closest Team	John Shoemaker & Lehra Inglis	500.54
2nd Closest Team	Amy Perkinds & Paula Tancredi Penman	470.59
3rd Closest Team	Ian Vonie & Brendan Myers	354.83

“And They’re Off!” Summer Wellness Challenges

July 15, 2021 is opening day of the Saratoga Race Track and fittingly the opening day of the RISE Summer Wellness Challenges! This summer is packed full of wellness challenges for our staff!

Pushups and Plank Challenge

This challenge came about when John Shoemaker and his wife Zaidee Bliss started competing against each other to see who could hold the plank position for the longest amount of time each day.

Paula Tancredi Penman got wind of this competition and challenged RISE Staff to take part in a RISE Push Ups and Plank Challenge with the goal of competing against yourself to see how much you can add onto your time throughout the summer. By Labor Day we will celebrate how much those who participated have improved.

Biggest Loser II

This challenge is all about weight loss. It will run for 6 weeks between July 15 and August 31 with confidential check-ins every Friday. Summer time is a great time to eat light and healthy, to get outside and exercise, and to take care of our bodies!

Beat Rik II Team Challenge

The goal of the “Beat Rik II Team Challenge” is for teams of two to four walkers to beat Rik Jordan’s total miles for the next for 6 weeks between July 15 and August 31. Will any of these teams be able to beat this “Miles Master” this time around?

Team One	Team Two	Team Three
Amy Perkins Paula Tancredi Penman Lehra Ingles Liz McFarren	Ian Vonie John Shoemaker Bendan Myers	Victoria Furfaro Braina Casey Erkia Straight Jenna Espey

Softball Challenge

This softball challenge is between the reigning champions, the “Hedgerownions” made of up Hedgerow House residents and staff and the “Unpracticed All Stars” made up of residents and staff from all other RISE programs. The “Hedgerownions” have thrown down the gauntlet and state that not only are they the reigning champions but they will be the 2021 Champions because that trophy is coming back to Hedgerow House to stay!

“The Hedgerownions” – the 2019 reigning champions!

This rivalry between the “Hedgerownions” and the “Unpracticed All Stars” started in 2018 and continued the next summer in 2019. Unfortunately, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the challenge was put on hold in 2020, but the teams are forming and they are ready to go this summer!