by Myra Keeble, Edgewater City Council
Edgewater is now a HEAL City and we are looking for volunteers to help plan Citywide wellness policies to help combat overweight and obesity in our community. The HEAL Planning Committee will meet in early December.
This committee will share its ideas related to healthy eating, physical activity, and workplace wellness and will ultimately make recommendations to City leaders on topics such as pedestrian and bicycle friendly streets, community gardening, farmers markets, and other policies that make Edgewater a healthier place to live, work and play.
On October 2, 2014, Edgewater City Council passed a resolution to join the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) Cities & Towns Campaign of Colorado. This program champions local government policies that improve access to healthy foods and physical activity in both small and large communities throughout the state.
The recent Edgewater Walks campaign is a successful example of the type of grassroots, community-based initiative that fits with the HEAL philosophy that even small changes may result in a big impact on a community’s overall health and quality of life. The City partnered with the Edgewater Collective, volunteers and local businesses to launch the first Edgewater Walks campaign during the month of September. The program encouraged participants to set a goal to walk 30 minutes a day at least 5 days a week with an emphasis on walking in and around Edgewater. Participants received a free t-shirt, had the opportunity to participate in five weekly walks, received motivational emails and tips for being more physically active, and were entered into drawings for prizes from neighborhood businesses.
The Edgewater Walks program results were impressive! The 111 participants exceeded the 150 minutes per week physical activity recommendations by walking an average of 188 minutes per week, and an average of 15-20 walkers per week participated in Tuesday evening group walks. In addition, 86% of participants who took an attitudinal survey about the program self-reported that they either increased or maintained their weekly minutes of walking each week, and 71% of participants reported that they were confident or very confident that they could continue to meet the goal to walk 30 minutes a day after the program was over.
To learn more about Edgewater Walks or to sign up for the HEAL Planning Committee, please contact the following:
- Lee Stiffler-Meyer – (303) 263-1989; lstiffle@centurylink.net
- Myra Keeble – (720) 771-8484; mkeeble@edgewaterco.com
- Joel Newton – (303) 748-0631; joel@edgewatercollective.org
For more information about the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign visit www.livewellcolorado.org/healcampaign or contact Julie George, director of the HEAL Cities & Towns Campaign of Colorado, at 720-353-4120 or juliegeorge@livewellcolorado.org .
Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.
Be the first to comment on "Edgewater Wraps Up Walk Campaign and Launches HEAL Wellness Program"