Fight Obesity 2007 & 2006 & 2005

LET’S GET HEALTHY, GREENDALE! Yes, all the publicity you’ve seen in the newspapers is true. Our city did receive a grant from the Missouri Dept. of Health and Senior Services for obesity prevention. Thanks to Ald. Chandra Coughley for seeking and obtaining the grant. We invite all Greendale residents to participate in this effort to improve our overall health in the following ways:

1)      Each household is entitled to receive one cookbook containing delicious but healthy recipes. Please stop by City Hall during normal business hours to select one: regular, vegetarian, or diabetic recipe cookbook.

2)      Twenty slots are funded for residents to attend exercise classes at Jazzercise Fitness Center, 8965 Natural Bridge, three times weekly until April 2006. We are seeking additional funding so more can participate. If you can commit to at least three times per week attendance at these fun classes, please call City Hall and leave your name, address and phone number. If anyone misses two classes in any one week, he/she will be dropped from the program and the next person on the waiting list will replace him/her. So, call the office so you can get on the waiting list in case someone is dropped, or the City receives additional funding for more slots. You cannot go to Jazzercise Fitness Center as part of the Greendale program without first registering through City Hall and Ald. Coughley confirming your slot has been reserved.

3)      Each month on the third Saturday at 11:00 a.m., Jazzercise will lead a FREE total body 60-minute workout in the Greendale Park Pavilion, Rockdale at Leadale. All are encouraged to attend. Bring your towel, floor mat, and bottled water, as you will need them. If the temperature is/will be 90 degrees or higher, or if it is raining, these every third Saturday workout sessions at 11:00 a.m. will be held at Jazzercise Fitness Center, 8965 Natural Bridge, just east of I-170, and Hoods, starting June 18^th.

4)      Every day those wishing to walk together for exercise meet at the pavilion, Rockdale at Leadale. Walking times are M-W-F at 8:00 a.m. and Tues. & Thurs. at 6:30 p.m. The group captains sign in participants (for program record purposes) and the group decides the route it will take each time. This is a great way to meet and enjoy your neighbors and our lovely city, take in nature’s beauty, and get some great exercise.

5)      Every third Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., just before the regular Board of Alderpersons’ meeting at Incarnate Word Academy cafeteria, a Jazzercise Fitness Center instructor will be available to consult with you on healthy eating and exercise, weigh you if you like, and just encourage you to start and/or continue your commitment to a healthier lifestyle. Afterwards, why not stay for the Board meeting and see, and participate in how your city is being governed.

There is something in this wonderful program for everyone. Come on, join in!

City offers services to fight obesity
GREENDALE GIVES RESIDENTS A LEG UP ON FITNESS -- FOR FREE

   D. PAUL HARRIS
Of the Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)

May 23, 2005

Section: Metro

Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT
Page B1

Word count: 743

ID#: 1000286928

The small town of Greendale in north St. Louis County is declaring its own war on obesity and unhealthy eating habits in a new program that organizers hope will have the town's 722 residents walking, working out and eating better together. They've even got Sam Grunbaum, 43, a 10-year resident battling diabetes, taking Jazzercise for the first time. "I never even thought of going to Jazzercise. It's sort of a revelation, a new idea for me," he said. "I want to take

Obesity fight brings Missouri town closer.(www.yahoo.com)
By CHERYL WITTENAUER, Associated Press Writer Fri May 27, 3:06 PM ET
At 71, Ora Wilcox has one bad knee, a total knee replacement and "a lot of weight to lose." So she rises every morning to lead a walk with her neighbors in the small municipality of Greendale.  She's looking for better health, a more active life and greater familiarity with neighbors she didn't know.

The town in St. Louis County recently was awarded an $8,080 state grant that pays for dance aerobics classes at a local Jazzercise center and cookbooks with heart-healthy, diabetic-friendly, or vegetarian recipes for each household. Together, the town's 722 residents plan to burn some flab, strengthen their muscles and develop healthier eating habits. But there's an added benefit: they're growing closer as a community.

"We have a man on a cane who walks every day," Mayor Monica Huddleston said. "We have others who never participated in anything. It's brought people out. This is neat. It touches everybody's nerve, that encouragement cell in their brain." Greendale is a bedroom community of middle-income, single-family homes in the far northern reaches of St. Louis County, near the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus. The community is 60 percent black, qualifying it for the state grant targeted specifically to minorities. But community leaders are quick to point out the program is for everyone, regardless of race. Twenty-five percent of townspeople are seniors, 25 percent are 20 years old and younger. The remaining 50 percent "are somewhere in between," Huddleston said.

Alderwoman Chandra Coughley said she learned from a friend about the grant offered by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services that is designed to prevent and reduce obesity in minority communities. She applied in late March and got the news it had been awarded to Greendale on May 8. She and other community organizers scrambled to put the program together. Townspeople may participate in group walks, morning and evening, or attend three weekly dance aerobics classes for a year at a Jazzercise fitness center run by Greendale resident Laurinette Bowers.

In addition, once a month, the 37-year-old Bowers will meet with residents at City Hall, to discuss their diet and encourage them to keep exercising _and to weigh them to monitor progress for their goals. Participants also are entitled to a free Jazzercise workout — one Saturday a month — in the city's new outdoor pavilion, a present the city gave itself for its 55th birthday.

Coughley, who sees the grant program as a great opportunity, said some of those participating have surprised her. "I'm still smiling when I hear reports of people going to class or saying, 'I'm going to start walking.' That is a plus."

Bowers said her dance aerobics classes are good for the "mind, body and soul" and help participants lose weight, strengthen their bodies, reduce stress and "feel good all over." She said people who had never stepped inside an aerobics studio have gotten over their initial discomfort and discovered they fit in, "no matter what their level" of fitness. "They adapt to it, even the shy ones," she said.

Joy Williams, chief of the state's Office of Minority Health, said the grant is designed to encourage communities to increase their physical activity and develop healthier eating patterns that will reduce obesity. The St. Louis County Health Department won a similar grant for schools. The St. Louis Area on Aging won a grant to help seniors manage weight and diabetes. The city of Kansas City won a grant to offer obesity prevention programs in churches and other religious settings. "The rate of obesity in minority populations is extremely high," Williams said. "We're hoping this effort will begin to address the problem and prevent other diseases."