Get Fit Great Falls

1/28/2009

Program Summary
The campaign focuses on promoting health and wellness through physical activity and healthy eating habits by using the local national parks and public lands as a resource for environmental education.

Title: Get Fit Great Falls

County: Cascade

Status:

Program Coordinators

Cascade County Commissioner Peggy Beltrone 406-454-6814 Email

Audrey Finlayson 406-899-1756 Email

Start Date:

End Date:

Creation Reason:

Target Population:

Findings:

Results: Commissioner Beltrone, Chair of the NACo Rural Obesity Committee, contributed to the publication of “Rural Obesity: Strategies to Support Rural Counties in Building Capacity.”

Needs:

Website: Click Here to Visit Our Website

Partner Orgs: Please visit our website for a complete list of partner organizations.

Current Funding:

Last Modified Date: 1/22/2010 8:34 AM

Image Gallery:

• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 


• 

The Cascade County Physical Activity Council promotes the community-wide campaign, Get Fit Great Falls. The campaign focuses on promoting health and wellness through physical activity and healthy eating habits by using the local national parks and public lands as a resource for environmental education. Get Fit Great Falls increases their success by unifying the community to provide a universal message to all people, with an emphasis on low-income, elderly, Native Americans, and children.

Get Fit Great Falls offers a wide variety of opportunities and events to help motivate residents to increase their health and wellbeing. For example, every Wednesday there is a group mountain bike ride at the Lewis and Clark overlook. Tuesdays and Thursdays Get Fit Great Falls also offers race training rides. The campaign supports National Trails Day in June. There is also a snowshoeing hike in January led by Get Fit Great Falls volunteers. Along with group events, the campaign offers daily ways to increase physical activity, and inexpensive, quick, easy, healthy meal ideas.

This 2008-2009 school year, the Cascade County Activity Council and Get Fit Great Falls are teaming up to initiate an environmental education program. 750 fifth graders at the Great Falls Public Schools will have the opportunity to participate. The program will launch with one full day of classroom learning. The students will also spend a day at the Lewis and Clark National Forest learning how to snowshoe. Then they will travel around the cross county ski course to different stations. At the stations the students will receive education on different aspects of winter ecology, including: snow properties, weather/climate, unstructured play, winter survival adaptations, and much more.

The program will provide teacher training, cold weather clothing such as hats, coats, gloves, and scarves, and snowshoe equipment for all 750 fifth grade participants. After the program, the equipment will be available free of charge at the ranger station to Cascade County residents. Participating students will be encouraged to come back to the mountains with their families. The program's goal is to have the students introduce their families to a fun, low cost, and safe outdoor activity.

The program is available for the students at Montana's School for the Deaf and the Blind. Get Fit Great Falls and the Cascade County Activity Council are currently creating a strategy to incorporate the program to harder reach students such as rural students.

Downloads:
 ruralobesityreport.p