Lifting Up Lives

I spent my summer weeks working out with Lifting Up Lives and it was an extremely positive experience. It was a great way to get myself active while establishing a lasting connection with the women and other volunteers. Mark, the founder, is a great role model and is truly passionate about promoting the physical and emotional health of the women impacted by domestic violence. The work outs were fun and I enjoyed working out alongside the women and sharing laughs and stories while we exercised. The sessions after the work outs were uplifting and encouraging and I could tell the women really benefited from expressing their hopes and goals for the future with the group. I look forward to continuing to work out with Lifting Up Lives next time I am in the Bay area.

Lifting Up Lives provides a supportive and fun place for survivors of domestic violence to embrace health and fitness through ZUMBA® fitness workouts. Founder Mark Rodgers is a dedicated leader who has done a stellar job organizing and keeping the program going strong for over a year and a half.
I am honored to volunteer as a workout participant. I have been joining the group every Friday for the past month and now have a better reason to look forward to Friday aside from shutting down my computer for the weekend. Forty minutes of ZUMBA® on the sunny roof of San Francisco’s Woman’s Place Shelter followed by a character building discussion with workout participants is a wonderful way to put life in perspective. If you enjoy fitness and have some free time in the afternoons, I highly encourage you to volunteer! Don’t be shy-​I guarantee you’ll have a blast! And if you don’t have time to volunteer, please offer your support by joining LUL’s online mailing list and/​or purchasing the community program classes. (7 Zumba classes for $ 9. What a steal!) Way to go Mark and Lifting Up Lives!

I think providing the means to exercise for these women who’ve had hard lives is the perfect approach in bettering their overall self — physically and mentally. Not only for battered women, but for women in general. Lifting Up Lives is a great organization for giving women the confidence to believe in themselves and realize that they are beautiful. I participate in the workouts every week and I see what the exercise is doing for us women — every workout starts off a little uncertain with some ladies looking a little tired and not up for it, but once we start moving, laughter ensues and smiles are everywhere.
I couldn’t be happier to be apart of this organization and look forward to its growth.

I was a volunteer at Lifting Up Lives for a few months and really valued my experience here at this great organization. The founder, Mark, is dedicated to making this organization work and providing opportunities for anyone to get involved. The instructors are awesome and enthusiastic about doing their part to help motivate and inspire others. I enjoyed my part of participating in the workouts and meeting women who are trying to turn their lives around. I’m excited too that this is the place where I first learned Zumba!
This organization is about using fitness and community as a motivator for making positive changes in women’s lives. We would have a great 45 min workout (with awesome music I might add) and then discussion time afterwards on a topic related to personal growth that helped everyone to open up and share more and support one another.
Please consider joining up with this organization as a volunteer and helping make a difference in women’s lives!

I was fortunate to be part of this organization when it was first starting, albeit for a brief time, but it is awesome! Mark has done a wonderful job of getting things up and running, organizing workouts and inspiring volunteers. His is passionate about helping women who have been touched by violence and I can’t say enough good things about his vision and the organization. Bravo and Hooray for Lifting up Lives! I hope to be able to volunteer again sometime in the future.

Lifting up Lives is an amazing organization. It promotes health and empowers women who have been affected by domestic violence through exercise and discussion groups. I was fortunate to be a part of this group as a Zumba instructor, and I definitely observed positive changes in the women who participated over the several months I worked at the shelter.
It will be great once the program expands to help more women in the community. If you have the time, become involved with Lifting up Lives (you can sign up on their website), and you will make a positive impact on many women’s lives (and perhaps your own as well).

Lifting up lives is an amazing community of people who help other women in shelter by just being there for them, volunteering, showing up at work outs just, staying positive and showing they care. I’m so happy to be part of such a wonderful organization that give back to me more than they will ever know.
If you ever find an itch to volunteer for an innovative program that’s like no other look no further, you will see your efforts in workouts and discussions go further here than anywhere else it truly is amazing. Every volunteer adds their own littles spice to the mix and are so crucial to the expansion of the group.