Martinsville residents are shaping up with the Healthy Community Challenge.

The Healthy Community Challenge is an annual 12-week health and fitness regimen that's part of a health and wellness initiative introduced by a number of local organizations. Those organizations included the YMCA, Martinsville Henry County Coalition for Health and Wellness, Henry County Parks and Recreation, the City of Martinsville and Activate Martinsville-Henry County.

“Participants were issued a bingo card in order to keep track of specific activities as they completed them,” says Brad Kinkema, executive director of Martinsville YMCA. “The program culminated in a grand prize drawing, with the winner receiving a trip to Myrtle Beach for a family of four.”

Participants registered for the challenge by picking up one of three different activity bingo cards, and each time a bingo card was completed, participants earned a small prize.

Completions of bingo cards got participants that much closer to the grand prize. “The challenges were not too difficult,” Kinkema says. “For example, one of them was walking three times around Jack E. Dalton Park in Collinsville, which would be a total of 1.8 miles. Another challenge was to walk around Uptown Martinsville for an hour.”

The 12-week Challenge was created in an effort to get the community active and healthy, and was open to residents of all ages. Residents had the option of participating as an individual or as a team member, with all of the emphasis being on participation and fun.

“The Challenge took into consideration that not everyone is on the same fitness level,” Kinkema says. “It was designed in such a way that people could choose the activities that best fit them."

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