Weight of the Fox Valley Kicks Off

Thursday, June 19, 2014

At the kick-off, we started the "I Took the Pledge!" campaign, encouraging attendees to commit to one healthy activity.

Have you taken the pledge? If you would like to join this fun campaign, please send me an email at keren.rosenberg@unitedwayfoxcities.org describing one healthy action you will implement in your life. If you include your home address, I will send you a postcard in a couple of weeks to remind you of your commitment.

Contributor: Keren Rosenberg, Weight of the Fox Valley Manager

Over 200 attendees came together on June 5th to kick-off the Weight of the Fox Valley, a new three-county initiative to build a community that achieves and maintains a healthy weight at every age.
The event was divided into two meetings; a morning session for the general assembly and an afternoon session to kick-off the Active Communities and Worksite Action Teams.

The morning began with a presentation by the Running Club from Clintonville's Longfellow Elementary School. Alarmed by the unhealthy condition of many children in the school, Karen Petermann started a before-school running club. After less than three years there are now 88 children running before classes in Clintonville. Awesome!

Attendees then had the opportunity to identify existing health-related initiatives in the area and locate them on our three-county map. This information will be put into a database that we will make available to the public and continue to update - Coming Soon!

The afternoon session was led by the Healthy Wisconsin Leadership Institute, and focused on the development of the Action Teams. The main goals were to start to build relationships and establish shared goals. Regional connections were made and initial steps were taken to develop a shared vision for the teams, still, much work remains. You're invited to join us for the second Active Communities and Worksite Action Teams meeting on July 15th from 7:30 to 9:30 at the Best Western Premier Bridgewood Conference Center in Neenah. Please RSVP online by July 11th. We hope you can make it!

Want to see photos of the kick-off event?  Please go to our Facebook page, and don't forget "Like" us!

Thank you to all those that joined us for the kick-off event! Please watch for future updates and ways that you can get involved.