Tread Strong: Support BIDMC’s 2019 Boston Marathon Team

For Kristine (Kris) Laping and her daughter, Madeline Walsh, BIDMC has always been a family affair. Kris—who has worked at BIDMC for 16 years—is the Chief Development Officer for BIDMC and Beth Israel Lahey Health.

“I love this medical center, and I love my job—I learn something new every day, and get to support our life-saving mission,” she says.

Madeline fondly recalls visiting her mom at work in the Development office throughout her childhood. “Ever since I was little I’d come to work with her and be her little assistant. I loved it,” Madeline says.

Following in her mother’s footsteps, Madeline started working at BIDMC as a patient care technician while finishing her last year of nursing school. “I knew there was no better place for me to get hands-on training for my future than at BIDMC,” she says.

Now the two are embarking on another journey together: the 2019 Boston Marathon, as members of Team BIDMC.

“After running Boston in 2011 and 2012, I thought I was done with marathons,” Kris says. But after watching her daughter begin to train for her first marathon, Kris was ready to lace up her running shoes once again.

“Madeline’s training progress was so exciting. I wanted to be part of it with her, and I knew we would make a great fundraising team together,” she says.

Kris and Madeline are running in support of the Healthy Champions Program at Bowdoin Street Health Center, an anti-obesity, educational and fitness program that serves primarily low-income children, ages 7-14. Under the supervision of a case manager/fitness coach and nutritionist, Healthy Champions learn about the importance of healthy foods, food preparation and food access in their neighborhood to live a healthier lifestyle.

It’s a program that both Kris and Madeline are thrilled to promote. “I love the message the Healthy Champions program sends to youth,” Madeline says. “It provides not only resources to live a healthy lifestyle, but also empowers them with the confidence to be ambassadors of health.”

Kris agrees, “The Healthy Champions program has such a tremendous impact in the Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood. Bowdoin Street Health Center does truly innovative, life-changing work with relatively modest resources, and we want to help expand the scope of this program to touch more young lives.”

Read more about Kris and Madeline and support Team BIDMC.