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The “Get Up & Go” Health
and Fitness campaign would like to invite you to become part of its
grassroots effort to connect communities through a variety of health and
fitness activities. The campaign began here in St. Clair County just a
few months ago, and it has gained tremendous momentum with over 110 groups
and 23,000 citizens getting involved. Since April 2008, it has been
recognized by state, regional and federal agencies as one of the most
creative and inclusive efforts to build healthy communities – a definite
first in its attempt as a community building process using health and
fitness activities to inspire and motivate groups of people to work
together for their health and the health of their communities.
So how does a neighborhood
get involved? Well it’s really quite simple. Our team of volunteers has
found that the most effective way to motivate groups of people to get
active is to support their own ideas. Our website and volunteers can
always provide some suggestions and ideas. You can even borrow some ideas
from what other groups have done.
Chances are, however, that
you have all the creative energy you need to get started among your
neighbors because you know your neighborhood better than we do. It will
take a motivated few within your neighborhood to get things started, but
we would be happy to meet with you and help with any ideas that we have
found in our efforts to connect communities together. We’ll even feature
your efforts through our community calendar and highlight any activities
you wish to send us information about. Since this campaign is run by
volunteers and supported by numerous partners and sponsors, there is no
cost for your neighborhood to get involved.
Our own neighborhood
started something like this out of desire to help each other during the
many power outages and storms that have sometimes crippled our community.
Now we have a number of neighbors who walk together, keep an eye out for
one another (and our children) and host regular block parties and
neighborhood garage sales. Other neighborhoods are doing outdoor
gardening projects, starting softball teams, hosting neighborhood walks,
working with area churches to beautify and improve their local community,
supporting Girl Scout and Boy Scout service projects… hopefully, you’re
starting to think of some ideas already. Now get ready to “Get Up & Go!”
Do something for yourself, for others and for your community.
All we ask is that you let
us know. We would like to create a special “Neighborhood” section to the
website and feature the many efforts of neighbors working together for the
health of their community. If you’re interested in helping to promote
some proactive and healthy activities in your neighborhood, fill in some
of the information on the form provided or send us an email at
info@getupgo.info. If you’re already part of an active neighborhood
group, tell us your story. We would like you to inspire others to do the
same.
Finally, over the next
several weeks and months, our growing team of volunteers will be working
with some of your municipal leaders and elected officials to promote this
campaign on a wider scale. We’ve already attended several “Town Hall”
meetings and are trying to follow-up with several of the local Mayors who
have expressed an interest in helping to promote this campaign through
their City Departments. We can always use additional support or
volunteers so let us know if you’re interested in becoming part of
something bigger. Look for more information about the campaign and join
us on July 28th at the Grizzlies Stadium for “Get Up & Go”
night as we attempt to fill the stadium with many of our campaign groups
neighborhoods and participants.
It’s really up to you, but
if you think you’re up to the challenge; visit our website at
www.getupgo.info to sign-up or just to
get more information.
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