2005 Performance Based Budget - Laserfiche WebLink

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On May 17-22, an army of volunteers will converge on the park to turn the dream into reality. Many friendships will be enriched there dining construction and for years to come. Our long term partnership with Memorial Health System has helped us to develop health and wellness programs at all three recreation centers. This complements the efforts of our Hearts N Parks program which completed its third year of helping kids, city employees and seniors learn a healthier lifestyle -and have fun doing it. Despite these efforts, Self magazine reported that South Bend ranks low for women's health. I generally don't put much stock in these rankings that are primarily intended to sell magazines. Especially since they won't reveal the criteria for the study. They clearly were not aware of all our local efforts to promote healthy living. Both hospitals, the Healthy Communities Initiative, Women in Touch and the Women and Minority Health Coalition are among many groups committed to making our community healthier. We even have the nationally acclaimed HealthWorks Kids Museum. Nevertheless, there is a word of caution here, not just for South Bend but for America in general. As a nation we are overweight and out of shape. We ought to do something about it. As I stand before you tonight, I can truthfully say that I have grown in this job in many ways. One ofthem is size - and I don't mean that I'm taller. I weigh 260 pounds. That's well above my playing weight. It is also twenty pounds less than I weighed two years ago at my all time high. I pledge to you that I will lose twenty pounds before my next State of the City address. And I ask you to join me in improving our health. Not everyone needs to lose weight, of coarse. But if you do, let's do it together. Let's do it sensibly by eating less and exercising more. Let's encourage one another in this effort. There are 1300 city employees. If we each lost an average of 8 pounds, we would shed a collective five tons! Let's get healthy! Let's do it for ourselves, but also for our families. We'11 have more energy and a new spring in our steps. We'll be able to dance all ~~ - _ ------ -- -.~ - A-24