FIT FOR LIFE RECEIVES FUNDING FROM COMMUNITY PLAN

Fit For Life received $20,000 from UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Louisiana to support youth programming focused on fitness, lifestyle tips, healthy choices and physical activity.

Brad Grundmeyer of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Louisiana presented the donation to Fit For Life Executive Director Robert “Superman” Blount.

The grant will encourage North Louisiana youth through physical activity and understanding of heart disease, diabetes and healthy choices.

“Partnerships like Fit For Life and UnitedHealthcare are a true testament to the continued commitment to our community to provide local youth and families the opportunity to succeed through education and healthy choices,” Shreveport Mayor Ollie Tyler said.

Obesity among children and adolescents has almost tripled since 1980, with nearly one in every three children being overweight or obese, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children from low-income and low-education households are three times more likely to suffer from obesity, which is a leading risk factor for diabetes, heart disease and many cancers, according to America’s Health Rankings, an annual comprehensive assessment of the nation’s health on a state-by-state basis. Louisiana ranks 45th in the country with 33 percent of adults estimated to be obese.

Fit For Life is a nonprofit organization in Shreveport dedicated to improving the health, fitness and wellness of all Americans, especially those in North Louisiana.

ENVIRONMENTAL GRANT GIVEN TO SCI-PORT

Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center, has been selected as a first-time recipient of the Healthy Communities Grant by Keep Louisiana Beautiful, the state’s premier anti-litter and community improvement organization.

This grant, in the amount of $7,648, will support Sci-Port’s Watershed Stewardship Project. The goal of the Watershed Stewardship Project is to educate urban students on the importance of good environmental practices, water safety and water stewardship in order to reconnect them to the outdoors and their watershed.

These goals will be accomplished through educator training, indoor and outdoor classroom activities, field trips to Sci-Port for hands-on watershed education programming, a Water Activity Play Day, and recycling and/or cleanup. Combined, these initiatives will connect watershed education to outdoor stewardship opportunities such as storm drain marking activities, trash pickup, and water activity days.

Teacher workshops will begin this month; classroom activities and field trips will be held throughout the fall and spring semesters; and the Water Activity Play Day(s) will be scheduled near Environmental Education Awareness Week in April 2016. Students will participate in either America Recycles Day (November 2015) or the Great American Cleanup (April 2016).

WALKERS SUPPORT AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION

Over 1,000 attended the annual Northwest Louisiana Heart Walk, an event to benefit the lifesaving work of the American Heart Association on Oct. 10. The walkers united to celebrate the campaign at Louisiana State University Shreveport. This year, the American Heart Association, Heart Walk Chair, Isaac Palmer and volunteer leadership will raise over $100,000.

Combining fitness and philanthropy, this annual walk brought together corporate sponsors, walk teams, and individual walkers. The Heart Walk also celebrated survivors of heart disease and stroke and lifestyle change heroes who are all continually taking steps toward a healthier lifestyle while raising funds to combat heart disease and stroke, the No. 1 and No. 5 leading killers, respectively, of American men and women. The 2015 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana Lifestyle Change Award winners were Michael Holmes and Brandon Hill. Proceeds support research, education and community programs of the American Heart Association.