Palm Beach County Residents Log More Than 32 Million Minutes of Physical Activity During 2019 Let’s Move Challenge
Village of Wellington Logs Most Minutes as Let’s Move Challenge Champions
West Palm Beach, Fla.– Palm Beach County residents from Belle Glade to Delray Beach, and everywhere in between, ran, walked, biked, Zumba’d and weight lifted their way into logging more than 32 million collective minutes of exercise during March 2019 for Palm Health Foundation’s Let’s Move: Commit to Change Physical Activity Challenge. The challenge, now in its seventh year, inspires county residents to complete and log 30 minutes of physical activity each day during the month of March. Over 400 teams participated, twice the number of teams registered for the 2018 Let’s Move challenge.
The top five teams that logged the most minutes during the challenge were recognized on April 10,2019 at the Let’s Move Celebration event and awards ceremony at the South Florida Science Center and Aquarium. The Village of Wellington was named the 2019 Let’s Move Challenge Champions with 12,849,676 minutes logged.
The top five teams were:
- The Village of Wellington
- The City of Delray Beach
- YMCA of South Palm Beach County
- The City of West Palm Beach
- The City of Boynton Beach
Editor’s Note: We’re proud of our AroundWellington.com Team, which logged the 2nd most minutes of the sub-teams and was a sub-team of the Village of Wellington. Good work!
] The School District of Palm Beach County was also a significant participant for the second year, engaging 39 schools and 19 district departments in the challenge and logging nearly 1 million minutes. Top performing schools included Beacon Cove Intermediate, Atlantic Community High, John I. Leonard High, Roosevelt Community Middle, Palm Springs Elementary, Poinciana Elementary, Allamanda Elementary and Suncoast High. Rounding out the top performing department teams were School Food Service and Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center’s 3A-ACCT. ERP, Budget, Treasury team.
Other notable teams ranged in age from toddlers to seniors and came from all corners of Palm Beach County to show that anyone can partake in physical activity for health. They included the Edna Runner Tutorial Center, Wellington Boys and Girls Club, For the Children, Children’s Services Council, Special Olympics, Area Agency on Aging, Lutheran Services Florida, Palm Beach State College and the Jupiter Medical Center. The Palm Beach County Board of Commissioners also formed a team to show their commitment to health and wellness.
To make the competition even more exciting, Palm Health Foundation hosted a Let’s Move video contest to inspire people to get physically active. The winner was Atlantic Community High School with an entry that was filmed and edited by students and featured an original song composed and recorded by a student. The video utilized song and dance to present ways to incorporate healthy lifestyle changes into daily routines.
Palm Health Foundation’s Let’s Move initiative was originally inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama’s 2010 national program to decrease childhood obesity. The foundation created the local challenge for adults and children to improve a variety of health issues through regular physical activity, including reducing the risk for diabetes and heart disease, improving mental health, and increasing chances for healthy longevity. According to The State of Obesity, Florida’s adult obesity rate is currently 28.4%, up from 18.4% in 2000, and it has the nation’s 13th highest obesity rate for youth ages 10 to 17 (16.9%).
“Every year our Let’s Move challenge has grown with more schools, businesses, municipalities, churches, community teams, and individuals coming together to focus on physical activity as an important component of overall health,” said Patrick McNamara, president and CEO of Palm Health Foundation. “As a community foundation focused on leading change for better health, our Let’s Move challenge, and all of the activities we sponsor during the month, serve as inspiration for helping residents achieve their full health potential, both mind and body, for lifelong wellness.”
Let’s Move sponsors were Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital, Children’s Services Council and Wisehaupt, Bray Asset Management.
About Palm Health Foundation
Palm Health Foundation is Palm Beach County’s community foundation for health. With the support of donors and a focus on results, the foundation builds strong community partnerships, respects diverse opinions, advocates for its most vulnerable neighbors and inspires innovative solutions to lead change for better health now and for generations to come. The foundation supports health equity for Palm Beach County residents of all backgrounds, heritage, education, incomes and states of well-being. Palm Health Foundation has invested more than $78 million in Palm Beach County health since 2001. For more information about Palm Health Foundation, visit palmhealthfoundation.org or call (561) 833-6333.