Connectivity: Biking to Work
Thu, 05/17/2012 - 11:20am — shereevI made it in one piece, and I feel accomplished. (physically and psychologically)
I rode my bike to work (roughly 10-12 miles). I think the worst part was trying to pack all my stuff into my backpack that I need for the day. The thing weighed a ton with my laptop, clothes and toiletries, paperwork, and my breakfast and lunch. Lesson one: drive your stuff to the office early in the week, and take all the stuff you need and leave it there instead of trying to pack it all on the day of the ride.
I met one other biker this morning. We played a little "tag" on Sawmill and then Longstreet - but once we got on the greenway, he apologized and left me in a cloud of dust.
Bike to Work Month: The "Dry Run"
Tue, 05/15/2012 - 11:09am — shereev
I have been in the contemplation stage of change for several years now on this idea of biking to work on a regular basis. I now have a job where I have access to a shower when I arrive at work that is moving me one step closer to being able to make this a reality, at least on days when I don't have meetings all over town that require use of a car. Last Saturday, my husband, Doug, and I completed a "dry run" of the two routes he mapped for us using an online mapping tool that came with his GPS (you can also use MapMyRide.com, though I'm not sure it includes greenway maps).
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Who We Are
AHA fosters and supports community efforts to make healthy eating and physical activity the way of life in Wake County. Simply put, we are working to make the healthy choice the easy choice!
AHA currently consists of nearly 60 partners, and we always welcome new partners to the table. To see our partner list, click here. If you would like to join AHA, please click here! This flier, which you can print and share with others, highlights what AHA is all about.
What We Do
AHA works to achieve its mission by shaping policy and environments that ensure available and affordable access to healthful food and physical activity for all community members. AHA does not create or implement programs, but facilitates partnership and collaboration between existing programs and services to create a community that works together effectively. AHA also helps identify gaps in community resources and advocates for what is needed to fill these gaps. The AHA membership currently includes nearly 60 stakeholder organizations and will continue to grow as needs and opportunities are identified.
AHA also works to showcase and promote healthful eating and physical activity opportunities and programs in our community. Visit our community resource page to find out what our county has to offer.
AHA accomplishes its work in the following work groups:
- Local Foods
- Community Connections (formerly Access and Environment)
- Engagement and Inclusion
- Public Relations and Communications
- Western Wake AHA
May 2012 Quarterly Update
AHA work groups provided these project and program updates for the September Quarterly Meeting.
Wake County Mapping Project: Ever wonder where all of the local parks or farmer's markets are located? Do you know if you can walk to one of them? Check out the AHA GIS map here to learn what is available in your neigborhood!
Brains and Bodies: 13 schools earned the AHA Brains and Bodies Award for healthy elementary and middle schools across Wake County in 2011! The 2012 winners will be announced May 30.
Community Needs Assessment: AHA members continue to be engaged in the steering committee, environmental health, and physical health committee. We will continue to work to address our needs in the assessment report.
June 1 Deadline: Fuel Up to Play 60 Grants
Up to $4,000 per year is available to any qualifying K-12 school enrolled in Fuel Up to Play 60 to help your school jumpstart and sustain healthy nutrition and physical activity improvements! Whether you’re just starting out with Fuel Up to Play 60 or looking to expand and extend an initiative that’s already in motion, these funds can be a valuable resource to your school!Get the details on funding and eligiblity; apply by June 1! For funding eligibility, schools must enroll in Fuel Up to Play 60.
Food Revolution Day Is Saturday!
Stand up for real food and join in the healthy eating celebration at Food Revolution Day in Cary on Saturday! Celebrate Jamie Oliver’s Global Food Revolution Day with AHA partners Whole Foods Market of Cary and Western Wake Farmers' Market! Whole Foods Market-Cary, one of AHA's Local Food Champions, something for everyone starting at 10 am and continuing through the day with:
-- eating from a rainbow
-- how to build a variety of salads
-- why and how to reconfigure your plate
-- how to eat healthy on a budget
-- kids' tours on what it means to eat healthy at 10 and 10:30 (RSVP at customer service!)
-- Chef Kabui cooks up budget-friendly healthy recipes
-- reading of Mitch Spinach at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm
-- kids' movement class with StartFit Stay Fit at 12:00 and 2:00
-- composting tour with Ben Reckendorf of Carolina Worm Castings at 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm
-- plus face painting, music and loads of fun!Western Wake Farmers' Market will share information and have activities about eating local at the farmers' market on a budget, and Morrisville Community Garden will host a spring gardening demonstration with tips on how you can create a small garden or container garden to save money by growing your own produce!
Perspectives May 2012
Welcome to Perspectives, my monthly letter that will appear in the AHA newsletter and on the home page each month.
On May 3rd, we had our Quarterly Meeting. It was great to see so many of our partners – and some new faces. Last week I was in Washington, D.C. for the Weight of the Nation Conference--perhaps some of you read my Tweets!
I wanted to share some news from the conference presentations about the challenges and opportunities, and also I would like to briefly report on the Quarterly Meeting.First, the Quarterly Meeting. We heard inspiring presentations from the Wake Boys & Girls Clubs and the Nessie Foundation/Parrish Manor mobile home community about the great work they are doing through the Healthy Places, Active Spaces project funded by the John Rex Endowment. What a testament to good people with good hearts doing good things for the people in this community. I think everyone in attendance left feeling humbled by what’s being done to help at-risk youth eat healthier and be more physically active.The Weight of the Nation Conference held May 9-11 was the second of its kind. The purpose of the conference was to promote policy, systems and environmental change strategies to address the obesity epidemic. Of course, the big announcement was that by 2030 we will likely see national rates of obesity at 42%, with 11% of us being classified as severely obese.
The Institute of Medicine released a report of recommendations for solving the problem titled Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention. This report lists 5 main recommendations, each with a handful of strategies, backed by a growing body of evidence all neatly packaged in a 463-page tome. The other big announcement was the HBO documentary series, Weight of the Nation, which is airing this week for the first time. If you don’t have HBO, you can still see the four-part series online. HBO and their partners are making this series widely available to raise awareness and prompt community action. Stay tuned to learn how AHA will use this tool to help us move action here at home.
My favorite session at the conference was a bike tour of D.C.’s bicycling infrastructure. The session took about 35 of us on a 15-mile bike tour to see the various types of bike lanes and signals that have been installed and to learn about their wildly successful Capital BikeShare program, all designed to get people out of their cars in one of the most congested cities in America. I will be blogging this week about biking to work in Raleigh in honor of Bike to Work Month and Bike to Work Day, which is this Friday, May 18th. I will be comparing my trips around town to the trip I took in D.C. and sharing some insights.Please continue to follow us on our website, and on Facebook and Twitter this month as we bring you new and helpful information about what’s going on with AHA.In Health,
KIT Adventure Race and KIT Triathlon for Kids
Join AHA partner Kids in Training (KIT) for its 5th Annual KIT Adventure Race-Harris Lake on May 20 and the KIT Triathlon at Preston Village in Cary on June 24! The KIT Adventure Race is a great way for you to canoe, mountain bike and run with your child! And the KIT Triathlons held throughout the summer are a wonderful swim, bike run fitness opportunity for kids 5-17 years old. Training sessions are available for all the KIT events; registration is online.