Over 4,000 Participants Registered in Fourth Annual Bluegrass Wellness at Work Challenge
On May 1, KVC Kentucky kicked off its fourth annual Bluegrass Wellness at Work Challenge with a total of 33 registered organizations from across the state. That translates to over 4,000 individuals participating in the six-week fitness challenge!
The Bluegrass Wellness at Work Challenge was created to give companies access to wellness initiatives as well as reward those who adapt their company initiatives to include wellness. In addition to promoting wellness in the workplace, the competition serves as a fundraiser for KVC Kentucky, a nonprofit child welfare and behavioral healthcare organization that each year serves more than 10,000 children and families in eight regions of the state by providing behavioral health services, foster care, family preservation and diversion, and other family-related services. One hundred percent of each company’s registration fee to join the challenge is used to support the health and wellbeing of children and families across the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
During the six weeks, participating companies will compete against each other, classified within the categories of small (under 25 employees), medium (25-99), and large (100 or more). Employees will use the Bluegrass Wellness at Work app to track their activity, receiving 1 point for every 15 minutes of exercise they record. New this year, participants can sync their Fitbit devices to the app in order to effortlessly record points! With over 4,000 participants, we anticipate record point totals across all 33 companies.
2016 Registered Organizations Include:
Large Organizations:
CLARK Material Handling Co.
Gray Construction
Hospice of the Bluegrass
Central Bank
Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC
St. Joseph Children’s Home
United States Equestrian Federation
Lexington-Fayette County Health Department
Kentucky Employer’s Mutual Insurance
Associations International, LLC
KVC Kentucky
Bluegrass Area Development District
Frontier Nursing University
Medium Organizations:
Lexington Diagnostic & Open MRI
Kentucky Bank
SRC Lexington
Crow Horwath LLP
SelfRefind
Commonwealth Eye Surgery
RossTarrant Architects
AssuredPartners NL
Retina Associates of Kentucky
Mountain Association for Community Economic Development
Key Assets Kentucky
Small Organizations:
Radio Eye, Inc.
KC Wellness INC.
Westmont Clinic
Step By Step, Lexington
Tate Hill Jacobs Architects
Anthem
Greg Turcotte & Friends at UBS Financial
Hitachi Automotive Systems, Americas Inc.
The Kentucky United Methodist Homes for Children and Youth
Let the Challenge Begin!
The 2016 Bluegrass Wellness at Work fitness challenge began on May 1 at The Great Cake Race 5K supporting Sweet Blessings, a nonprofit organization that creates one-of-a-kind birthday cakes for children living in poverty or with a life-threatening illness. KVC Kentucky proudly sponsored this event and awarded those who participated bonus points in the fitness challenge.
Upcoming Events:
June 4 – The Funky Fun Prom Run benefiting Step By Step, Lexington, a nonprofit women’s mentoring organization. The Funky Fun Prom Run will take place at Coldstream Park in Lexington at 6:30 p.m. Runners can get dressed up in prom gear to run the race, or wear their free t-shirt that comes with registration.
June 5 – The Great Amazing Race. This family-friendly challenge will get you and a partner muddy with a smile on your face as you complete the obstacle course and earn some last-minute points in the challenge!
The Bluegrass Wellness at Work challenge will run through June 12 with a special award ceremony for participating companies to conclude the challenge. This special event will honor first place winners from each company size division and name them “The Healthiest Place to Work” for 2016. Rewarding employees’ achievements will keep them excited and living a healthful lifestyle, with an added bonus of trophies and community recognition!
More About the Challenge:
The fitness challenge started as a project from the 2013 Leadership Lexington class, a program of the Greater Lexington Chamber of Commerce, aiming to create a simple challenge that includes all types and levels of fitness from walking to running to swimming, and counts each type of fitness equally. The goal is to promote active lifestyles by improving on each person’s current activity level. To learn more about the Bluegrass Wellness at Work Challenge, visit bluegrasswellnessatwork.org.