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Cost is $50, half of which goes to sponsor a child who wants to attend the 2017 Peace Camp. The remaining $25 is put back into a general pot and is awarded to the person who loses the most percentage of body weight at the end of the challenge. The final weigh-in will be held at 9 a.m. April 29 at the HPER Center.
“It was a great fundraiser for us last year,” Peace Center Executive Director Christina Walters said. “It goes to helping kids at the peace camp and it can get people healthy.”
Last year’s winner, Clark County resident Brian Call, lost 50 pounds, winning $825. The remaining money was used to sponsor 33 children for last year’s peace camp, which saw an average attendance of more than 200 children per day. The organization’s mission is to teach conflict resolution and anti-bullying techniques, among others.
“It keeps our camp free,” Walters said.
She hopes to have more participants this year, Walters said. She’s already had people asking her about the challenge, she said. It could become a team challenge in the future, she said, similar to other challenges that have been held in Springfield.
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Several local fitness organizations are also offering special for participants, including:
Springfield Health and Fitness/Underground: $5 classes and a reduced membership rate.
The Fitness Cellar: Three free classes, $5 classes, half-off personal training for the month of January and a free T-shirt for anyone that purchases a class package.
Anytime Fitness: Participants receive a free Functional Movement Screen assessment, six free group training sessions with a trainer, three typed workouts per week, and unlimited contact with a personal trainer. Upon completion of all 6 group training sessions, participants will receive $100 gift card to put towards either personal training or membership, including other discounts.
Jayson Reed with Reedtrain: Two personal training sessions for the price of one, as well as free membership to his online training sessions.
Springfield Family YMCA: The gym will be offering discounted services, but is finalizing terms, Walters said.
“I love seeing all the competitors come together and they don’t even hesitate,” Walters said.
More discounts may also be offered from other wellness, Walters said, including other local gyms and nutritionists.
All partners will have a table at the weigh-in with information about specials, she said. Other sponsors include Wittenberg University, Box King and Thrivent Financial, Walters said.
Interested participants can sign up at springfieldpeacecenter.com or the organization’s Facebook page.
Healthy Springfield: About this series
Many readers responded to a report late last year that ranked Springfield as the least healthy city in Ohio. That response — including wanting to make a positive difference — prompted the Springfield News-Sun to take a closer look at the community’s health. This year the News-Sun dug into the public health issues facing the city, including obesity and minority health disparities and efforts to improve them. Coming Sunday: The News-Sun asks local health leaders what must be done to improve the health of the community.
MORE ONLINE AND IN PRINT: We asked local health experts in a variety of fields to give us easy steps you can take to improve your health in 2017. The first of those columns will run on Sunday and will continue inside the Local section throughout this week. For all of our Healthy Springfield content, including stories, columns and recipes from experts on how improve your health in 2017, log on to SpringfieldNewsSun.com/healthy-springfield/.
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