5 Years of OMC & 2 Perspectives
How One Mile Became a Movement
This September marks the 5th Annual One Mile Challenge — five years of guardians, families, and communities across the country moving for one mile a day for the 30 days of September.
At this special five-year marker, we wanted to look back at how OMC started and the stories & perspectives of two people who've carried it from idea into impactful initiative — and why it matters so much.
Alex: A Guardian's Perspective (former Navy SEAL, Guardian Revival Co-Founder, former CEO, and current Board President)
Kim: A Civilian's Perspective (and current Guardian Revival CEO)
Why We Walk
Every year in September — Suicide Prevention Awareness Month — hundreds of participants across the country take on our challenge: walk one mile a day for 30 days to raise awareness and funds for our programming at Guardian Revival.
This challenge is meaningful and impactful for guardians, families, and civilians alike to step up and stand together to break stigmas around mental health and improving lives.
It doesn't matter where or when you walk — out on trails, through your neighborhood, on city streets, or on a treadmill. Show up on your own, with friends, pushing a stroller.
What matters is putting one foot in front of the other, one mile and one day at a time
OMC started with one guardian’s story before it became a national movement.
Alex: A Guardian's Perspective
Guardian Revival co-founder and current Board President Alex Othmer is a former Navy SEAL. His father was a New York City firefighter during 9/11 — an experience that shaped Alex's own path toward service, eventually leading him to join the military and pursue an elite unit.
But leaving the SEALs and coming home wasn't easy — like so many guardians, Alex faced a difficult transition back to civilian life, struggling with his own mental health and depression along the way.
What helped him most were small, consistent things, day after day: hiking with a friend (and future GR co-founder) through the Hudson Valley, adopting and caring for a dog, picking up a guitar again. Those small steps and daily routines added up to something bigger. They helped Alex heal, and they planted the idea for an organization built around those same principles: that connection, movement, fresh air, and music could be powerful tools for improving others’ lives.
That idea and mission became Guardian Revival. A few years later, it became an even more focused initiative: the One Mile Challenge (OMC).
Alex’s concept for OMC started with the idea of a fitness-based fundraiser paired the philosophy of weight. Every day, guardians carry invisible wounds — the weight of trauma, service, and stress that most people never see. OMC asks participants to challenge themselves to move for one mindful mile, every day for 30 days, and (if you can) carry weight too, in whatever form works, as a way to physically understand what our guardians carry every day.
"The One Mile Challenge is a 30-day virtual challenge where participants walk one mile a day for every day in the month of September... The idea is that they're out there every single day consistently walking one mile, activating their understanding of what a guardian is, and what it means to them, for those individuals who are protecting and serving our communities every day."
Mental health and wellness still aren't talked about enough — especially for those who serve:
People will go to the doctor for a physical injury without a second thought, but seeking help for emotions and thoughts still carries stigma, particularly in military and first responder culture.
OMC is one way to help change that — by making mental health more visible and less intimidating to talk about, by encouraging participants to commit to daily physical movement, and by raising funds to support Guardian Revival’s programs and events, which are provided at no cost for military, veterans, first responders, and families and offer connection, wellness, and support.
Kim: A Civilian's Perspective
Guardian Revival CEO Kim Haight didn't come to this mission through military service. But one moment changed her life by saving someone else’s.
In October 2019, seven months pregnant, Kim woke early one morning to find her husband's body shaking beside her. What she thought was a nightmare was actually cardiac arrest. She called 911, and within minutes, firefighters, police, and EMS arrived. They kept her calm and literally brought her husband back to life.
“This was a life-changing (and hopefully only a once-in-a-lifetime) event for our family, but for the first responders who saved my husband’s life, it was one of hundreds, if not thousands. Dealing with intense, life-or-death moments is their job — they can respond to calls like this any day, maybe even multiple times a day. They face trauma and stress in ways and with a frequency that is far beyond what a person is really wired to handle. That realization is what made me want to work at Guardian Revival and make sure our guardians are supported in finding ways to relieve some of that stress and work through the trauma they’ve faced.”
Kim joined Guardian Revival first as Chief of Staff, then Interim CEO, and now serves as CEO. Her path to this work started not in uniform, but as someone whose family was saved by the very guardians GR exists to support. And that’s true for many of the participants of the One Mile Challenge:
“For years, I worked in nonprofit leadership to support and advocate for abused children. Now, I have the opportunity to serve those who have spent their lives protecting and serving our children, our communities, and our country: our military, veterans, and first responders. I stand — and walk — with our guardians today in an effort to ensure that they can face their own invisible wounds and know they truly are never alone.”
Now, each September, Kim joins thousands of participants in the One Mile Challenge — walking and running one mile at a time to honor and support the military, veterans, first responders, and families who spend their lives serving others.
5 Years of Impact
OMC 2026 Kickoff Event @ GR HQ Beacon
Alex’s idea of a simple challenge with special significance has grown into one of Guardian Revival's biggest efforts of the year, boosting awareness and bringing in donations that make our programs & events available at no cost for military members, veterans, first responders, and their families.
For five years now, individual participants and teams have shown up for themselves, each other, and our guardians to help break stigmas by taking on their daily miles, spread awareness, and raise meaningful funds in support of the mental health & well-being of our guardians.
2022: Our inaugural OMC year, with 469 participants raising over $31,000
2023: 919 participants (and 73 teams) raising over $124,000
2024: 808 participants (and 68 teams) raising over $227,600
2025: 1031 participants (and 78 teams) raising over $232,000
2026: current OMC! Over 500 participants (and 46 teams) have raised over $60,000 (and counting!) — but this year’s challenge is just beginning, and you can still join for a few more days — and donate all month long!
During each OMC, we are awed by seeing your stories on social media — when and where you make your miles happen, and reasons why you take on the challenge.
Maybe OMC resonates because you’re a guardian like Alex (or a loved one is), grateful to our guardians like Kim, passionate about mental health & wellness, or simply interested in taking on a physical challenge for yourself.
Join Us
Even though we're now a few days and miles into the challenge, you can still join in! Whether you're a guardian, family member, or civilian, there is a place for you in the One Mile Challenge.
Walk, run, ruck. Build a team, challenge a friend, or simply commit to your own 30 miles in 30 days. Every mile matters. Because every person matters.
Maybe you think a mile is too short to make a difference, or alternatively that a daily movement goal is too difficult to incorporate into a busy lifestyle — but actually, we set this "one mile a day" as the challenge because it is both achievable & impactful.
If participating in OMC (from wherever you are) truly isn't in the cards for you this year, we hope you'll consider making a donation to help us keep providing all our programming and events for guardians & families at no cost to them. Thank you!
Need help getting started? Check out our OMC guide for tips on registering, personalizing your page, and more.