Mahaska Wellness Coalition Sponsors Monthly Walk

Nearly 20 Oskaloosa residents took off on the first of scheduled monthly walks sponsored by the Mahaska Wellness Coalition

Oskaloosa, Iowa – Taking a walk on your lunch hour might not seem like something you would want to do, but 20 Oskaloosa area residents did just that.

They took to Penn Central Mall to cover 1 km of walking on Friday afternoon in what is planned as a monthly event.

“We just want to show our continued partnership with the Healthy State Initiative, and we’re trying to find ways to work in the power 9 into little things, little changes, that we can help Oskaloosans to do. This is just one of those things that we want to start doing. As it grows we want people to be able to come here and socialize, meet new people that are also interested in this kind of lifestyle”, making a sort of support group, “to continue on with it”, Kathryn Schippers said of the first ever walk.

“We’re just hoping to start a trend and have this monthly, the first Friday of every month.” Brianne Fitzgerald, Executive Director of Mahaska County United Way, explained on the groups plan.

The group plans to utilize Penn Central Mall during the winter months and when nicer weather arrives in the spring they will be looking to coordinate some walk locations throughout Oskaloosa.

Brianne Fitzgerald states they are looking for people to create their own “walking initiative groups” for the first Friday of the month if they are unable to come to the mall or other locations.

With Oskaloosa not being selected to be a part of the Blue Zone Project, Kathryn Schippers went onto say, “Early on we committed to still encouraging the principles of the healthy student initiative encouraged here in Oskaloosa”. The group sees this as an opportunity to continue to show support and possibly move on with other programs when they become available.

“I guess some of the benefits of not having to do the application is the fact that we can kind-of do this the way we want to do it, and the speed we want to do it, and we can involve who ever we want to involve. We’re not going to be dictated as to timelines and structure when in reality we can just take our time, figure out what works best for our community, and implement the change when we want to implement the change; when it feels right for us.” Brianne Fitzgerald explained on the optimistic approach the coalition is taking towards the project.