Let’s Move! Fayetteville kicks off with Trail Tour April 2nd

FAYETTEVILLE, AR – The City of Fayetteville is pleased to announce the Let’s Move! Fayetteville program Kick-Off event, a Trail Tour with Mayor Lioneld Jordan, on Saturday, April 2, 2011.

Area kids are invited to join Mayor Lioneld Jordan for the first Trail Tour of 2011. Bring a parent (or the whole family), pack a healthy lunch, and join Mayor Jordan for a Trail Tour. The event will start in front of the Fayetteville Public Library at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 2. The tour will leave from the Fayetteville Public Library and lead up Frisco Trail to Wilson Park, where families can enjoy their picnic lunch while being entertained by Shaky Bugs.

The City of Fayetteville is proud to partner with Beaver Water District, Fayetteville Public Library, Jules Taylor, and Ozark Natural Foods to present this Trail Tour event as part of the Let’s Move! Fayetteville program.

Let’s Move! Fayetteville is the City of Fayetteville’s initiative to improve the health of our community members, especially our children. “Nothing is more important for our future than the health of our children because they are our future. We must do everything we can to give them a healthy start, a healthy community, and a healthy future,” stated Mayor Jordan.

In 2010, Fayetteville joined a growing number of cities and towns throughout the United States enlisting in the Let’s Move! national program dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity.

National Program
Let’s Move! is a comprehensive initiative, launched by First Lady, Michelle Obama. This program is dedicated to solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will grow up healthier and able to pursue their dreams. Combining comprehensive strategies with common sense, Let’s Move! is about putting children on the path to a healthy future during their earliest months and years, giving parents helpful information, and fostering environments that support healthy choices. Let’s Move! is about providing healthier foods in our schools, ensuring that every family has access to healthy, affordable food, and helping kids become more physically active.

Everyone has a role to play in reducing childhood obesity; including parents, elected officials from all levels of government, schools, health care professionals, faith-based and community-based organizations, and private sector companies. Your involvement is key to ensuring a healthy future for our children.

Obesity by the numbers
Over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled. Today, almost one in every three children in our nation is overweight or obese. The numbers are even higher in African American and Hispanic communities, where nearly 40% of the children are overweight or obese. If we don’t solve this problem, one third of all children born in 2000 or later will suffer from diabetes at some point in their lives. Many others will face chronic obesity-related health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. Source: http://www.letsmove.gov/

There are many ways you can get involved in reducing childhood obesity. Let’s Move Fayetteville Together.

For more information about the Let’s Move! Fayetteville program and how you can help contact Julie McQuade at [email protected].