We’re not the champions yet, but if you’ll join the effort we can rock the state and compete for the title of 2013 H-E-B Community Challenge champion for mid-sized cities in Texas.
The 2013 H-E-B Healthy Community Challenge launches Sunday. If we all get on board to spread
Does this sound like an uphill battle? Maybe, but then maybe not if you look at the progress we’ve made over the past decade or more.
During the past 10-15 years, a dedicated and growing group of individuals and organizations have worked hard to help the San Angelo community become a healthier place to live, work and play.
More residents are now making healthy lifestyle choices, organizations have implemented worksite wellness programs and public funding has been used to create parks and trails.
In many households, running shoes outnumber dress shoes in the closet and garages are simply big storage cubicles for bicycles, kayaks and other fitness gear.
Children are learning about healthy nutrition in school and then “teaching” their parents at home.
It’s a journey and we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us to make healthy lifestyle choices become the San Angelo norm for all residents, but — it’s now time for the rest of Texas to hear about the great progress we’ve made thus far.
So, let’s rock the world and become the 2013 champions for the H-E-B Healthy Community Challenge. We’re active, healthy and proud of it so let’s take some time to brag about what we’ve accomplished.
The eight-week H-E-B challenge, which will run from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31, has a very simple format: just complete healthy community activities as described on the H-E-B Community Challenge website, document the activities via photos or video and upload them to the H-E-B Community website to receive points for our community.
Stephanie Reisner, H-E-B’s local wellness coordinator, said H-E-B is a strong supporter of community wellness and also has an internal “Ready-Set-Move wellness program for their employees.
“H-E-B’s goal is to engage with all segments of the communities we serve related to fitness, nutrition, and wellness,” Reisner said. “We want to encourage as many San Angelo individuals and organizations as possible to participate in the 2013 Community Challenge.”
You can help San Angelo earn community challenge points at multiple levels ranging from individuals to actions by community leadership, schools, businesses and other organizations.
For example, San Angelo will receive 50 points for each person who registers (and there are almost 100,000 of us), 250 points if Mayor Dwayne Morrison signs a Healthy Community pledge, and 500 points if there’s a challenge video from the mayor.
Morrison is on board with a commitement-to-lose-weight and challenge YouTube video posted at http://youtu.be/zZS_aw PFK8E. He will be giving up “40 pounds of his majorship” as a way to demonstrate his leadership and support for a healthy San Angelo.
Schools, agencies, businesses, and individuals can all earn points for San Angelo — it’s described in grater detail at hebcommunitychallenge.com.
So how do individuals and groups in San Angelo get started down the road of winning the 2013 challenge? Just follow the steps described below.
- Go to hebcommunitychallenge.com, read through the information, and start thinking about what you and your organization can do to rack up points. Even better, expand on the ideas presented by H-E-B to come up with new and innovative ways to improve the health and fitness of our community while also earning points for San Angelo.
- Mark your calendar for September 1 with a reminder to log on to the H-E-B challenge website and sign up.
- Spread the word via Facebook and Twitter — get as many San Angelo residents as possible to step up to the challenge.
- Walk the walk. On Sept. 4 at 6 p.m., the local H-E-B staff will be hosting a walk on the KOA loop to kick off San Angelo’s Community Challenge efforts. Local news media will be there to document the event, so make plans to be there as part of the kickoff event.
- Contact your elected and appointed officials, business leaders and medical professionals to get them involved.
- From Sept. 1 through Oct. 31 complete, document and submit as many healthy community activities as possible. Who knows — by the end of the eight-week challenge period all of those healthy activities just might become permanent healthy habits.
Remember — we can rock the world and become the 2013 H-E-B Healthy Community Challenge champions!
Upcoming events
- Sept. 4: HEB Community Challenge walk, 6pm KOA loop
- Sept. 5: Road Bike time trial, sanangelobicycleassociation.com
- Sept. 7: Comanche Warrior triathlon, visitbigspring.com/pages/comanchewarriortriathlon
- Sept. 7: Let It Go 5K, roadlizards.org
- Sept. 14: Run to Remember, angelo.edu/asufit
- Sept. 21: Family Day 5K, angelo.edu/asufit
- Oct. 2-Oct. 30: ASUFit cyclocross series, angelo.edu/asufit
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