"Running Rooster" raising money for addiction and recovery centers reeling from federal funding cuts
Addiction and recovery centers in Washtenaw County are some of the organizations scrambling to find additional funding after losing dollars to public health and ARPA cuts by the Trump administration.
Home of New Vision had to lay off 20 employees and close down their 24/7 engagement center after losing $1.2 million, while Dawn Farm asks for community donations to keep their family recovery housing program afloat.
A former Dawn Farm client who's found stability in his recovery is literally going the extra mile to give back to the organization he says gave him a second chance at life.
Long-distance running is something that comes naturally to Mateo Haase, but he says he lost that passion while battling addiction. Thanks to organizations like Dawn Farm and Home of New Vision, he's in recovery and lacing up those running shoes once again to give back and give meaning to why the chicken crossed the road.
"I've run marathons, and I used to be someone who ran sixty miles a week," Haase told us while jogging.
Dressed from comb to claw in his full-sized rooster suit, Haase didn't choose this outfit because he's cocky.
"The rooster is kind of the insignia of Dawn Farm. It's definitely going to be attention-grabbing," he said.
He's hoping to stand out to raise money for the organizations that got him back on his feet, running one mile for every $20 in donations to protect programs at risk from federal funding cuts.
"So I just started four days ago. I got about $2,500," Haase said.
That's a 125-mile pace already, and the donations are still coming in to keep Dawn Farm's Stronger Roots program running.
"It's a recovery housing program for single parents and their children. There's currently five parents and their children in this program. Asking five parents and their children to leave this program was not a realistic option," said Dawn Farm President Anna Byberg.
Thanks to community donations, including those from Haase, Dawn Farm was able to recoup the $85 thousand they lost in ARPA funding that was supposed to be available until the end of the year.
"It's cool to see him being successful, and him launching this campaign, and being excited to do it," Byberg said.
Haase is the example of why each mile he runs as the rooster matters.
"Because I would have been dead if I wasn't able to get services like Dawn Farm and Home of New Vision," he said. "If you think these programs don't matter, then you're saying I don't need to be alive right now. Recovery is a good investment for the community."
Donations can be made on the websites of either organization, but to make sure they count toward Haase's miles, don't forget to say you're donating on his behalf when filling out the prompts online.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
UnitedHealth Seeks $1B Latin America Exit: Sources
UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) is one of the best Dow stocks to invest in. The company is considering several offers for its Latin American business, according to two insiders familiar with the situation, as it works to recover from a series of major setbacks, including the removal of its CEO and a reported criminal accounting investigation. The largest US health insurer has aimed to exit Latin America since 2022, but selling its Banmedica unit has become more urgent recently due to multiple challenges, one source said. A senior healthcare professional giving advice to a patient in a clinic. New CEO Steve Hemsley told shareholders last week that he is focused on regaining their confidence following a disappointing earnings report and a Wall Street Journal story about a criminal probe into alleged Medicare fraud. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) maintains it has not been notified by the Department of Justice and stands by its business integrity. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) has received four non-binding bids for Banmedica, which operates in Colombia and Chile, totaling around $1 billion, according to sources who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the negotiations. While we acknowledge the potential of UNH as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure. None. Sign in to access your portfolio
Scientific American
an hour ago
- Scientific American
Planned NIH Cuts Threaten Americans' Health, Senators Charge in Tense Hearing
U.S. senators grilled National Institutes of Health (NIH) director Jayanta Bhattacharya at a hearing on 10 June about how his professed support for science squares with unprecedented funding delays and research-grant terminations at the agency this year, as well as enormous cuts that have been proposed for its 2026 budget. What would normally be a routine hearing about government spending was anything but: hundreds of scientists and advocates for Alzheimer's disease research packed into a cramped room on Capitol Hill to denounce US President Donald Trump's 2026 budget request, which calls for cutting the NIH's budget by about 40% and collapsing its 27 institutes and centres into 8. Such a cut 'would stop critical Alzheimer's research in its tracks,' Tonya Maurer, an advocate for the Alzheimer's Association, a non-profit group based in Chicago, Illinois, told Nature at the hearing. 'We've worked too damn hard to see this happen.' On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. Bhattacharya defended his leadership at the agency — the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world — noting that there is a 'need for reform at the NIH' and that to restore its reputation, the NIH 'cannot return to business as usual.' (The NIH has been accused by Trump and his Republican allies of funding 'woke' science and research on coronaviruses that they say could have sparked the COVID-19 pandemic.) To help fix the agency, Bhattacharya told the senators that he wants to focus on increasing reproducibility in biomedical research, upholding academic freedom and studying the cause of autism, which US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has pledged to find an answer to by September. Letters of dissent The hearing comes the day after more than 300 NIH staff members sent Bhattacharya a fiery letter decrying the mass termination of jobs at the agency and its cancellation of thousands of research projects on a growing list of topics that the Trump team has said are 'politicized', including those investigating the biology of COVID-19, the health of sexual and gender minorities (LGBT+) and reasons that people might be hesitant to receive a vaccine. 'We are compelled to speak up when our leadership prioritizes political momentum over human safety and faithful stewardship of public resources,' the staff members wrote. They named their letter the 'Bethesda Declaration,' after the Maryland community and Washington DC suburb where most of the NIH is located. The title also alludes to the 'Great Barrington Declaration', an open letter that Bhattacharya co-signed in October 2020 that argued against COVID-19 lockdowns except for the most vulnerable citizens, instead allowing for children and others to be infected so that 'herd immunity' could be reached ― a proposal that numerous scientists and NIH officials called dangerous at the time. At the hearing, Patty Murray, a Democratic senator from Washington, implored Bhattacharya to 'heed their warning,' and said that she expects that 'none of them face retaliation for raising those concerns.' Bhattacharya didn't respond to this comment at the hearing but said in a statement on 9 June that the Bethesda Declaration 'has some fundamental misconceptions about the policy directions the NIH has taken in recent months,' but that 'respectful dissent in science is productive.' Gavin Yamey, a global-health researcher at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who signed the latest declaration, said, 'he can talk about freedom, but his own staff are decrying his censorship. How he's actually acting and what he says are not one in the same.' Taking ownership Several senators, including Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin, questioned who was in charge at the NIH, given reports that billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency ordered agency employees to cut hundreds of specific grants. 'The changes in priorities, the move away from politicized science, I've made those decisions,' Bhattacharya responded. The mass terminations of awards at institutions such as Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, 'that's joint with the administration', he said. (The Trump administration has alleged that universities such as Harvard have allowed discrimination, including antisemitism, on their campuses, and has cut or frozen research funding as a result.) The drastic 40% cut to the NIH's budget proposed for the fiscal year 2026 is not yet set in stone: the US Congress has the ultimate say over government spending, and during Trump's first presidency, when he proposed a huge cut to the biomedical agency in 2017, it instead approved a slight increase. Nevertheless, the composition of the body has changed significantly since then — far more of its members are now loyal to Trump. Comments made at the hearing by the senators weren't entirely divided down party lines. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine who voted to confirm both Bhattacharya and RFK Jr, said she was disturbed by the budget proposal. 'It would undo years of congressional investment in the NIH,' she said.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Merck's Cholesterol Medication Achieves Primary Endpoint in Two Trials
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is one of the best Dow stocks to invest in. On June 9, the company announced that its drug, enlicitide decanoate, achieved its primary goal of lowering a specific type of cholesterol in two late-stage clinical trials. A close-up of a person's hand holding a bottle of pharmaceuticals. The medication is being studied as a potential treatment for hyperlipidemia, a condition marked by high levels of fat in the bloodstream. According to the company, enlicitide led to significant reductions in LDL-C, or "bad" cholesterol, in patients with existing heart disease or those at risk of developing it. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a global healthcare organization focused on providing innovative health solutions through its medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and animal health products. The stock has surged by over 1% in the past month. While we acknowledge the potential of MRK as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: and Disclosure. None.
