| In: Public Service and Advocacy
YMCA America on the Move Week Begins Sept. 22
The YMCA is sponsoring America on the Move Week, September 22-28, part of the American on the Move Foundation’s month-long “Steptember” campaign to motivate and empower Americans to eat a healthier diet and become more physically fit and active . The message is a simple and powerful one, and one which needs to be put into action. Based on scientific research from the America on the Move Foundation, these two steps, practiced daily, will produce results: walk an extra 2,000 steps (the equivalent of a mile) and consume 100 fewer calories. The YMCA hopes to gain many participants nationwide:
America On the Move Week with the YMCA is part of the YMCA’s national initiative known as YMCA Activate America®. Activate America is the YMCA’s bold approach to directly address our nation’s lifestyle health crisis. Activate America shifts how we are working inside and outside the YMCA to engage all children, youth, adults and families whose successful pursuit of health and well being in spirit, mind and body requires continuous supportive relationships and environments.
Does the strategy work? America on the Move (AOM) features an inspiring story of success of Greg Riley, of Swansea, South Carolina, suffering from the complications of Type 2 diabetes:
Within six months of joining AOM, Gregg had lost sixty pounds and his doctor had taken him off diabetes medication. Two and a half years later, he is still walking and controlling his diabetes through diet and exercise. Now that his blood sugar has stabilized, his vision has improved and he no longer needs glasses to drive. “AOM has helped me deal with my diabetes in a proactive way,” says Gregg, who walks in the morning before his part-time job as a teacher/coordinator of an adult GED program. “Exercise is a joy now. I look forward to it, even in the winter.” He is currently walking AOM’s new Iditarod trail, and strives to take 10,000 steps every day. To date, Gregg has completed four half-marathons, two of them with his twenty-seven year-old daughter.
Visit the website for more details; you can sign up for a free membership and gain access to online tools and resources and also find and take part in your local YMCA’s special events.