Check out the news archives on the blog to learn more about our team's events, training, and fundraising efforts.
Julie ran the Chicago Marathon in October 2011, her first, and looks forward to the challenges of training for the Boston Marathon this winter. She is a member of the Wicked Running Club in Salem, Mass.
Elizabeth Belcher is a social work student at Wheelock College, as well as a loving nanny for several Jamaica Plain families. Upon moving to Jamaica Plain in the fall of 2010, Elizabeth took up running in Franklin Park as a commitment to self-nurturing and wellness. In addition to running, her past-times include strength-training and creative expression. A poet and self-taught pianist, Elizabeth holds a strong belief in self-empowerment through art and movement as tools for community and personal advocacy. Elizabeth is running the Boston Marathon for the Franklin Park Coalition especially with the hope of helping to provide healthy activities and programs for youth, in order to prevent teenage tobacco, alcohol, and substance use. 
Nichole Bukowski is honored to be running for the Franklin Park Coalition. She is an avid marathon runner and sports enthusiast and wants to help raise funds to support beautification and programming for Franklin Park. Nichole has run in fourteen marathons and after taking two years off from running marathons is extremely excited to be running once again and supporting a cause near and dear to her heart! Nichole has been a teacher, coach, and sports programming developer in Boston Public Schools for the past 7 years and is currently working in an afterschool enrichment program in Brookline MA and going back to school for health, wellness, nutrition, and athletic programming for the education setting. She will be a certified yoga teacher by June of 2012 as after completing a 200 hour yoga certifcation program under the guidance of the yoga teacher who has inspired her in countless ways. Nichole is very excited to be a part of this Marathon Charity Team and looks forward to the training and race day journey with her fellow teammates!
Jason Carraro is honored to be running for the Franklin Park Coalition. He has had the opportunity to run in Franklin Park on a couple of occasions and wants to help raise funds for such a beautiful park. Jason started running just over a year and half ago, to lose weight, improve his health, and lead an overall healthier lifestyle. Along the way he has fallen in love with the sport. Jason is a member of the Danvers 5k and Wicked Running Club. He has reached goals he never thought he could when he started. In 2011, Jason ran the New York City Marathon, his first, and now is excited to run in the most prestigious marathon in his hometown. Last year, Jason volunteered for this race last year and thought to himself how amazing it would be to one day actually run in it and on April 16, 2012 that day will come.
Kristen Day lives in Jamaica Plain with her husband and their three kids, Josie, Noah and Violet. She has been running for 22 years and up until now, has avoided running any race. Recently running the Boston Marathon began to sound appealing. Kristen has been a Franklin Park Coalition member for two years and was on their webpage looking for the date of the Fall Festival and saw the posting for the Franklin Park Coalition Marathon Team. An avid fan of the park, running the Boston Marathon for the FPC felt like the perfect opportunity for her first official run. Kristen and her family spend many hours enjoying everything the park has to offer, but our family favorite is definitely sledding behind the clubhouse at the golf course. The preservation and rehabilitative efforts of FPC are daunting and the youth programs are inspiring, this is such a great organization!
Shari Hewson resides in Beverly with her husband and son and is thrilled to be part of the Franklin Park Coalition Team. She and her husband have always enjoyed taking their son to parks and feel very strongly about supporting the parks and various activities. Shari is an Executive Assistant at Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., volunteers at her son’s school, and was the Race Director for the 1st and 2nd Annual Fall Frolic 5K & Fun Run – a fundraiser for the five public Beverly Elementary Schools. Money was raised at the same time that healthy living and fitness was promoted. The Hewsons started running approximately three years ago and all are members of the Wicked Running Club. She has volunteered at the Boston Marathon and is excited to be part of this elite event. Shari has run the Vermont City Marathon, Disney Marathon and the Stone Cat Trail Marathon twice. The fundraising and training for Boston will be an incredible experience with a great team for an awesome cause.
Dale Libkin is a proud member of the Franklin Park Coalition governing board and volunteers her time to the board because she believes so strongly in the mission. She lives near the park in Jamaica Plain and visits nearly twice daily with her dogs Charlie and Marbles. All three can be seen running around White Stadium most mornings at sunrise. She considers herself so lucky to be able to enjoy this gem of a park on a daily basis.
Dale is fairly new to running. She began in earnest in March of 2010 and ran her first 5K on her 50th birthday in September 2010. Recently she completed her first half marathon and is ready for the challenge of training for her first marathon. She is thrilled, excited, and terrified and can't wait to begin work as a member of the Franklin Park team!
Owen Kendall loves running. He thinks it’s the best metaphor he’s ever found for life - or life for it: if you work at it a little bit every day, you improve, but even while you’re improving, you’ll have some rough patches here and there. Owen is one of the cofounders of Forest Hills Runners, a free community running group that runs through Franklin Park every week. He’s therefore running for the Franklin Park Coalition (FPC) because he thinks Franklin Park an awesome place and, as a second year medical student at Boston University interested in preventative medicine, he hugely admires what the FPC does. Obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure (all linked) are the leading causes of illness not only in this country, but worldwide, even though they can be controlled through consistent exercise. One major reason these things are so common today is that young people and adults alike frequently don’t have safe places to run around and be active. Owen loves what the FPC is doing to consistently improve the park for all Bostonians, while also introducing Franklin Park and all it has to offer to a more diverse population. He couldn’t be happier running this year’s Boston Marathon for the FPC to raise awareness for the wonderful work they do.
Piotr Krupa has made the FPC Boston Marathon Charity Team an international phenomena. When we asked him why he runs, he told us, "I want to see what I am physically capable of, which is why I have finished 13 marathons and 4 Ironmans. I want to see the world, so I have run everywhere from my hometown of Wroclaw to Prauge, to New York and Chicago, and even Perth. Piotr works as an entrepreneur, so running relieves the stress of daily life. Piotr is active in his local parks and greenspaces and believes that access to these improves the quality of life for everyone.
Scott Powell lives just outside New York City and works at JPMorganChase in mortgage banking. He is married and has three children, including a daughter in her second year at Tufts University. He is a lifelong avid outdoor and parks enthusiast. He has competed in adventure races, climbed mountains, completed Ironman triathlons, and finished numerous marathons and ultra-marathons, including the Leadville 100 Trial Run in 2011.
He is involved in a number of charitable organizations including Special Olympics and is on the board of Phipps Houses of New York. He is honored and proud to be raising money for the Franklin Park Coalition to support green space in an urban environment and provide space for youth programs in the City of Boston.
To support Scott's fundraising efforts, please visit:
Carleen Tucker lives in Hyde Park with her husband Marc and 4 children (Taj 17, Maxwell 7, and 2 year old twins Jackson and Brooklyn). Carleen is honored and excited to be running the Boston Marathon, and fundraising for not one but two charities – the Franklin Park Coalition and St. Francis House. While the Franklin Park Coalition is making sure that the community has access to parks and recreation in their neighborhoods, the St. Francis House is giving the poor and homeless an opportunity to rebuild their lives. Carleen started running in her mid twenties the longest distance she had ever run was 10k. Six months after the birth of her twins Carleen started training for a half marathon and completed her first half marathon 10 months after their birth.
Carleen got the urge to run her first marathon after a dear friend Natalie forwarded her the October FPC newsletter to highlight the Halloween family activities. Carleen immediately noticed the request for runners and decided to take that leap. Carleen, her family and friends enjoy taking advantage of running, long walks, the zoo and having picnics at Franklin Park. Carleen is thrilled that she was chosen to represent both of these amazing charities, who in their own ways provide support to her community. She never thought in a thousand years she would be training for the Boston Marathon.
