Residents Using $52k YMCA Grant to Fight Childhood Obesity

The Wilton Community Collaboration to Prevent Childhood Obesity is off to a running start.

Following several meetings of the 12-member Steering Committee, the full Home Team of 30 met last week to outline its mission and goals and to begin to create a written action plan for submission to the YMCA of the USA by late May. The team has the benefit of a $52,000 grant, received by the Wilton YMCA from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, for the purpose of preventing childhood obesity in the local community.

"I'm inspired to reclaim our community, at both the grassroots level and policy level, to recreate environments that are more supportive of healthy lifestyles," said Wilton Youth Services Director Colleen Fawcett. "The Y has pulled together a terrific team of people…and Wilton is fortunate to have so much in place to already build upon."

The team is comprised of local residents, health care professionals, school officials, town directors, parents and students; among them are Officer Eva Zimnoch, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Arlene Gottesman and nurse Tonya Morrow, whose children attend Our Lady of Fatima School. The team members hail from all different walks of the community but share a common mission: to improve health and wellness in Wilton youth through lasting initiatives that increase physical activity and encourage good nutrition. The group's vision is that the Wilton community will be a leader in promoting healthier lifestyles and lessening the risk of children becoming overweight.

The team plans to manifest its goals through three areas of focus: increased physical activity, increased access to healthy foods, and policy/long-term initiatives. Subcommittees for each project will work to implement specific changes such as establishing a safe "Pedestrian/Wellness Zone" which takes advantage of sidewalks and trails that are already in place; establishing a centrally located "Wellness Wall" that will display directions to parks, walking distances to key locations, and exercise and healthy eating information; placing bike racks at key locations; encouraging consumption of fresh produce available at local farm stands, farmers' markets and community gardens; and talking with local restaurants about highlighting healthy menu options and listing calorie counts.

"We're looking at where we can have the greatest impact right away," said Stephanie Barksdale, Executive Director of the Wilton Chamber of Commerce and co-leader of the initiative. She and fellow leader Karen Strickland, Development Director of the Wilton Family YMCA, have outlined a "pedestrian zone" that follows the new sidewalk system and existing trails as the geographic focus for increasing walking versus driving. The route, which includes four schools, all of Wilton Center, Trackside Teen Center, Comstock Community Center, Merwin Meadows and the high school athletic fields, reaches from Olmstead Hill at the north, the Wilton YMCA at the east, Wolfpit Road at the south and Middlebrook School at the west. The team hopes to collaborate with partners in local businesses and youth organizations to help create safe walking links and coordinated youth program activities within these parameters. "In the future, we hope a Town Wellness Commission can be established to expand on this plan," said Barksdale, who wants the changes made possible by this two-year grant to have long-lasting effects on the community.

The epidemic of childhood obesity is getting national attention, as evidenced by First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign, the new federal law included in the health care bill mandating national food chains to post calorie counts on menus and a potential tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, and by Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, the new reality series about changing the lifestyles of the unhealthiest community in America. According the Center for Disease control in Atlanta, approximately 400,000 people die each year as a result of sedentary lifestyles and poor nutrition, and taxpayers foot a $40,000,000,000 annual medical bill for complications of obesity including heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

Here in Wilton, the problem is not so much obesity as it is kids who are unfit or somewhat overweight. "Being thin doesn't necessarily mean a person is healthy," said Strickland. In fact, many Wilton children do not meet the national physical fitness test standards. Team members note that kids who do not wish to participate in organized sports don't have many options for physical activity. There are several reasons for this deficit: the town's streetscape does not include walking and biking trails; many people are simply unaware of the trails and other recreational assets that do exist; driving is the default mode of transportation in town; and children spend more time in front of screens than they do playing outside.

"Many of our communities have changed dramatically since the 1970s in terms of how the environment is set up to encourage physical activity among children. Children used to be 'free range,' outside playing for hours on end. [They] spent much less time in front of televisions, cell phones, computers and video gaming consoles. Today it takes a different kind of effort to live and teach children active and healthy lifestyles," said Fawcett.

The Wilton Community Collaboration to Prevent Childhood Obesity plans to address these issues in ways that will affect positive change on the lifestyles and mindsets of not only children but of the community at large. "We're so lucky to live here," said Wilton parent Cathy Reif. "Let's make it the best we can. Everybody needs to pitch in!" To get involved with the initiative, please contact Karen Strickland at 203-762-8384 x 279 or kstrick@wiltonymca.org or Stephanie Barksdale at 203-762-0567 or wiltoncoc@snet.net. Additionally, you can track the initiative's progress at www.wiltonwellness.blogspot.com.