{"id":34234,"date":"2025-11-14T15:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/34234\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T15:24:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:24:12","slug":"im-able-foundations-inaugural-ruck-roll-raises-money-for-veterans-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/34234\/","title":{"rendered":"IM ABLE Foundation’s inaugural Ruck & Roll raises money for veterans’ programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly 90 people participated in the IM ABLE Foundation\u2019s inaugural Ruck & Roll event at Blue Marsh Recreation Area.<\/p>\n

Officials said the event on Nov. 2 drew 88 participants, including 14 veterans and eight athletes with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\"IMIM ABLE Foundation’s inaugural Ruck & Roll event at Blue Marsh Recreation Area on Nov. 2 featured adaptive athletes on handcycles and recumbent bikes navigating an off-road course. (Courtesy of Austin Mitchell)<\/p>\n

The event, created as part of the foundation\u2019s veteran-focused Operation Lead from the Front program, was a fitness challenge and a fundraiser, generating support for IM ABLE\u2019s adaptive recreation and veteran engagement initiatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cRuck & Roll wasn\u2019t just about distance or speed, it was about people showing up for each other,\u201d said Alex A. Pilkington, foundation CEO. \u201cWe saw veterans mentoring new athletes, adaptive riders inspiring the crowd, and families cheering together. That\u2019s thecommunity we strive to build every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Participants chose between two main activities. The rucking portion offered a military-inspired hike with individuals carrying a weighted or unweighted pack while covering distances of 4.3, 8.6 or 13 miles. The rolling division featured adaptive athletes on handcycles and recumbent bikes navigating a scenic off-road course of 3.5, 7 or 10.5 miles across varied terrain.<\/p>\n

The event also featured a family-friendly festival with food.<\/p>\n

As part of the event, the foundation introduced Operation Supply Drop, an initiative supporting veterans and their families facing food insecurity. Participants collected nonperishable food donations, many incorporating them into their rucks as a symbol of carrying weight for others.<\/p>\n

Funds raised from the event will be used to create opportunities for veterans and those living with disabilities to participate in fitness and recreation through adaptive equipment grants and demonstration days, peer mentorship, and fitness programming.<\/p>\n

For more information, go to imablefoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 90 people participated in the IM ABLE Foundation\u2019s inaugural Ruck & Roll event at Blue Marsh Recreation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":{"0":"post-34234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reading","8":"tag-berks-county","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-reading-city","13":"tag-reading-city-headlines","14":"tag-reading-city-news","15":"tag-top-stories-reg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}