OTTAWA, June 6, 2016 /CNW/ - Today, leading media, business, community, not-for-profit, and sports organizations announced the details for Healthy Me Week's national awareness campaign, which includes community events, social media activities, public service announcements, and new this year – a Healthy Me Action Plan and infographic.
Healthy Me Week (HMW) is a national call out for Canadian children and their families to pledge their commitment to engage in healthy activities and choices for a period of 7 days (June 6 – 12) in an effort to establish renewed healthy habits for the remaining 51 weeks of the year.
"Parents need our help. This is a call to action for us to give the much needed guidance to enable children and their families to embrace healthy active living. Our new Healthy Me Action Plan is a great tool that allows children and their families to be their own healthy living coach by giving them simple tips they can easily implement." explains Bev Deeth, president of Companies Committed to Kids, a founding partner of Healthy Me Week.
This initiative will also help busy families find ideas and tips on how to get healthy together. Citing an HMW/ParentsCanada magazine online survey conducted in April 2016, a vast majority of respondents listed time constraints as their main obstacle in leading a healthy life (83%). The same survey also revealed that Canadian families would welcome inexpensive and free activity suggestions in an effort to become more active (75%). Healthy Me Week's simple call to action – Get Up, Fuel Up and Own Up – was created to do just that: encourage families to be more active through these 3 simple steps.
"The survey also revealed that most parents see themselves as role models for healthy living for their children," says ParentsCanada editor Janice Biehn. "So it's really important that we, as communicators to parents, help break down those barriers to healthy living."
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
By simply visiting healthymeweek.ca, children and their parents can take the Healthy Me Action Plan Quiz. After answering nine simple questions, a customized action plan will be provided that gives suggestions on how to GET UP, FUEL UP and OWN UP for the sake of their health.
HON.CATHERINE MCKENNA, MINISTER OF ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMAGE CHANGE, BOKS AND CORUS' YTV PERSONALITY CARLOS BUSTAMANTE KICK OFF HMW
To help kick off Healthy Me Week's 5th edition in Canada, the Honourable Catherine McKenna, Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, acting on behalf of Hon. Jane Philpott, Minister of Health, along with the not-for-profit before school program BOKS, and Corus' Carlos Bustamante, Host of YTV held a morning session with over 200 students from the Glashan Public School. Students were taken through fun activities to support Healthy Me Week's key message of GET UP. FUEL UP and OWN UP.
"I'm very excited to provide my support to my first Healthy Me Week as Minister of Health," said the Honourable Jane Philpott. "I would like to commend Companies Committed to Kids and BOKS along with their 17 partners for coming together over the past 5 years and leading the way on this healthy living initiative. I encourage all Canadians to participate in Healthy Me Week and to take charge of their health by eating healthy and being physically active."
BOKS, Build Our Kids' Success, an initiative of Reebok and the Reebok Foundation, is a free morning physical activity program for elementary schools across Canada. BOKS was founded on the principle Active Kids = Active Minds. The goal of the BOKS program is to provide kids daily access to physical activity as a means of enhancing academic performance and establishing lifelong healthy habits. The program, run 2-3 times per week by volunteer trainers from the school community, is fun, inclusive and easy to implement.
"We are very proud of the BOKS program in Canada and couldn't be more pleased to be a partner of Healthy Me Week," says Mariska Kempers, -Director of BOKS. "We all share the common goal of helping kids and Canadians lead an active healthy life, and we understand that making healthy decisions is not always easy when leading such busy lives. By joining forces with HMW, we hope to inspire Canadians to make healthier choices with the HMW tools and resources to help kickstart healthy habits that will make a positive difference in their daily life."
For more information about Healthy Me Week, visit http://www.healthymeweek.ca, or on social media: #healthymeweek.
About Healthy Me Week
Healthy Me Week is a national health initiative that empowers Canadian families to adopt a healthier, more active lifestyle. Launched in 2012, this annual initiative is held during the first week of June. Healthy Me Week is led and promoted by the following partners: APTN, Bell Media, BOKS, Kids' CBC, Companies Committed to Kids, HalfYourPlate.ca, Family Channel, High Five, NBA, Nestlé, Parents Canada, ParticipACTION, Public Health Agency of Canada, Reebok, Shaw Communications, Corus' Teletoon, Today's Parent, YMCA Canada and Corus' YTV.
SOURCE BOKS
Image with caption: "To kick off Healthy Me Week this morning, Catherine McKenna, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, participated in the not-for-profit before school program BOKS with 200 students from the Glashan Public School. To her left, Mister Carlos Bustamente from YTV. Photo credit: Ellen Bond (CNW Group/BOKS)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160606_C8098_PHOTO_EN_707022.jpg
Vanessa Migliacci, Exacto Communications, [email protected], +1 514 622-4726
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