Walk Across Arkansas
Program Material
Task Force Meeting Agenda
Overview •
Recruitment Packets •
Public Promotion, Recruiting & Media Subcommittee •
Kick-off Activity Subcommittee •
Motivation-Prizes, Incentives, and Awards Subcommittee •
Recordkeeping Subcommittee •
Map, Picture, and Scrapbook Subcommittee •
Celebration and Awards Activity Subcommittee
 Sign-In
Introductions
Overview of Walk Across Arkansas
1. The purpose is to increase walking for fitness to help
people control their weight, feel better, lower or control blood pressure,
control blood sugar levels, decrease depression, improve sleeping, boost
immunity, and many other benefits.
2. Walk Across Arkansas is an 8-week walking program with
teams of up to 8 people (1 captain + up to 7 team members).
3. Biking or jogging teams are okay, too, but should be only
4 members each (1 captain + 3 members).
4. Teams compete to see who can log the most miles and reach
a pre-set destination.
5. Teams do not really walk or ride together, although they
may if they want to; teams simply pool their mileage each week to work towards
the chosen destination on a map posted in a convenient place for people to
check. (Teams with less than 8 members will divide total miles walked by number
on team and then multiply the result by 8 to determine total miles walked).
6. Team captains will call the total mileage for the team in
to the county Extension office each week.
7. Team mileage will be posted on an Arkansas map so everyone
can track their progress across Arkansas.
8. The team walking the farthest "across Arkansas" will win
as will the team who reaches the destination first (one team may not win both,
however).
9. Captains turning in their team's completed Individual
Registration Forms, Individual Mileage Logs, Walk Across Arkansas Wrap-Ups, and
Team Captain's Log will be eligible for prize drawing at the final recognition
and awards activity.
Recruitment Packets
Hand out and discuss
Captain's Packets
Hand out and discuss
Review Walk Across Arkansas Steps, (form WAA-1), modify as needed, select times and places, and adopt.
Form Subcommittees
1. Public Promotion, Recruiting, and Media
2. Kick-off Activity
3. Motivation-Prizes, Incentives, and Awards
4. Record keeping
5. Map, Picture, and Scrapbook
6. Celebration and Awards Activity
1. Public Promotion, Recruitment, and Media Subcommittee
Goals:
-
Increase participation in Walk Across Arkansas.
-
Promote media coverage.
Activities:
1. Identify and list additional worksites, churches, schools, public housing communities, senior nutrition sites, community college students and faculty, FCE clubs, 4-H clubs, and civic groups and clubs that also might be interested in Walking Across Arkansas.
2. Develop strategies to contact each of these additional participant sites.
3. Assign specific people to contact these sites.
4. Provide recruiters enough brochures, Team Registration Forms, and Captain's Packets for new teams.
5. Identify media that might cover "the developing story"-that is, an immediate story that might help secure more members, kick-off activity, progress reports, and the final recognition activity.
6. Specify who will contact media and when they will be contacted.
7. Work with Kick-Off and Recognition Activity subcommittees to make sure there is adequate media coverage.
Goal:
Plan a special event that will get media attention and result in signing up additional members.
Activities:
1. Select a special starting place for the kick-off
activity, like a local mall, famous bridge, a community center, or
courthouse-you need a place that is easy to get to for most people and a place
where a lot of people would be anyway, like a mall on Saturday.
2. Select a place for the kick-off activity that will allow people to start
walking; the mileage walked for kick-off can be added to their first day
mileage total.
3. Decide on date and time-schedule the kick-off event about one week before
the official start date of Walk Across Arkansas-media coverage of this
event results in more people wanting to sign up.
4. Decide who will make contact to secure the place for kick-off.
5. Do you need permits or police escorts because a street or highway is
involved?
6. Plan for bad weather and alternate date.
7. Identify specifically who will help with this event.
8. Plan to have a place/booth where people can sign up and obtain brochures,
Team Registration Forms, and Captain's packets.
9. Coordinate with the Public Promotion, Recruitment, and Media Subcommittee
so they can invite media to attend.
10. Coordinate with the Documentation, Pictures, and Scrapbook Subcommittee to
make sure someone is there to take pictures of people starting on their Walk Across Arkansas.
Suggestions:
1. Avoid making screening activities a part of the kick-off
event.
-
Screenings involving blood
work such as blood glucose or cholesterol require the presence of a clinical
agency to do these procedures and handle the blood samples properly; even
offering free blood pressure screening requires a clinical agency.
-
Blood work and blood pressure
require planning for abnormal results, including where will these people be
referred and who will be available to counsel them.
-
Blood work for cholesterol
most likely would not be returned for at least a week; returning results to
people might be difficult; even mailing abnormal results requires a phone
number the person receiving the results could call for advice, counseling,
and referral.
2. Caution!!! Avoid doing any tests for flexibility,
stamina, and strength-too many liability problems if someone gets hurt.
3. Kick-off activities could include:
- Demonstrations of how to get
started safely and walk to reduce the possibility of injury;
- Pedestrian safety for walkers and runners;
- Bicycle safety for those riding outside;
- Demonstrations of warm-up stretches;
- How to choose the right shoe;
- Demonstrations of how to determine target heart rate;
- Avoiding heat exhaustion and heat stroke by drinking adequate amounts water;
- Protecting against sunburn;
- Showing the Walk Across Arkansas map and telling where it will be posted and when results will be posted
weekly;
- Showing participants what winning teams will
win; and
- Merchants could be there to sell shoes,
pedometers, music tapes to use when walking, T-shirts for teams-great way to
get local merchants to support Walk Across Arkansas; could have
drawings for free shoes, etc. or coupons
3. Motivation-Prizes, Incentives, and Awards Subcommittee
Goal:
Attract and motivate participants to complete the eight week activity
Activities:
1. Decide on number and type prizes and awards. Here are some possibilities.
- Team(s) reaching destination in Arkansas first, second, third.
- Team(s) walking most miles first, second, third (no team should win both).
- All captain(s) turning in completed Individual Registration Forms, Individual Mileage Logs,
Walk Across Arkansas Wrap-Ups, and Captain's Log for their entire team by a preset date (2
weeks after Walk Across Arkansas officially ends) will have
their names placed into a pot; name(s) will be drawn for award(s).
- All participants attending all Health Breaks
or weight loss sessions could become eligible for prize drawing.
2. Obtain prizes (only certificates and no prizes is an
option too; may decide to collect small registration fee like $1-2 to pay for
these if no one wants to solicit donated prizes; could use these for cash
awards instead of prizes).
3. Organize some fun activities for motivating
participants.
4. Help make certificates for winners and all participants,
if possible.
Suggestions:
1. Incentives are more effective if:
- Participants know what
rewards will be at kick-off.
- Rewards are more powerful if they are some
things people really want, although most participants will try hard to win
even small things like t-shirts.
- Rewards are more effective if participants are
reminded of the reward during the 8 weeks as well as at beginning.
- Rewards are more effective if participants
believe anyone can win, including their team.
- Must support "losing" participants with
something-at least a certificate of participation.
- Rewards can be things such as dinner with a
local dignitary, or names posted in courthouse or mall, article in newspaper
with their pictures, proclamation of their team's day from county
commissioners' court, etc.
- Rewards can be t-shirts, water bottles, sweat bands, free pair of
walking shoes, month membership to fitness center, treadmill, recipe books,
dinner at a nice restaurant, movie tickets, plane tickets, or week-end trip.
2. Fun activity ideas:
- Organize a "best legs"
contest after a few weeks of walking. Set up a screen that will expose only
legs or post instant photo of legs on bulletin board. Have participants vote
on "best legs." Award a humorous prize to the winner.
- Have most creative or silliest team name
contest.
- Sponsor a "weight control" activity.
- Have an entire team weigh themselves as a group
on freight scales. Base the contest on total pounds lost or the average
pounds lost per individual by weighing on freight scale at end.
- Sponsor a "Hollywood Stars" contest. Have each
team member sign up to be their favorite Hollywood Star.
- Everyone's weight starts as zero. Post
everyone's weight loss or gain as -3 or +4, etc. Greatest loss at end wins.
Could have this be a competition between teams or team members
- Hold a healthiest, best-tasting dessert contest.
- Have nutrition fair. Have separate booths for
different nutritional topics. Have plenty of free samples and recipes
available.
- Hold a dirtiest walking shoe contest.
- Hold an ethnic food fair where cultural recipes
have been modified to be healthier; prize for best tasting.
- Have a contest for best-looking team t-shirts or
best team banner in walking parade.
- Determine average ages of teams and recognize
oldest and youngest.
- School classes can compete with each other,
teachers vs. students and if students win, principal will dress in clown
costume, etc.
4. Recordkeeping Subcommittee
Goal:
Work with county Extension
agent to document Walk Across Arkansas activities.
Activities
1. Collect Team Registration Forms from each team captain
at beginning of Walk Across Arkansas.
2. List team name, team captain, and team captain's
telephone number on Weekly County Extension Team Report so it is ready for the
first week when captains call in to county Extension office.
3. Collect weekly mileage totals called or faxed in by each
team captain and record on Weekly County Extension Team Report for your
county-captains are to call the county Extension office by Wednesday each week
with their team total.
4. Move each team's symbol the number of inches (maps have
conversion of inches to miles) they have walked, biked, or run on official
Arkansas map for everyone to see Friday, each week of Walk Across Arkansas.
5. Call or send a flyer to each captain the week before Walk Across Arkansas
ends (end of week 6 or beginning of week 7)
reminding captains to collect an Individual Registration Form, Member Mileage
Log, and Walk Across Arkansas Wrap-Up from each team member as
well as herself/himself; captain should attach the Team Captain's Log to the
members' information and send or bring the packet to the Extension office. All
team captains turning their team's completed packet will become eligible for a
prize drawing for _______ prize(s). Flyer can also give team captains
information on final celebration and recognition activity.
5. Map, Picture, and Scrapbook Subcommittee
Goal:
Document activities of Walk
Across Arkansas with a Map, Pictures, and Scrapbook
Activities:
1. Make a Walk Across Arkansas map(s).
Counties participating in the past recommend only one map. However, counties
may have as many maps as desired. Need to coordinate with Record keeping
Subcommittee so accurate mileage is posted each week by Friday. Record keeping
Subcommittee will post mileage on map(s).
Please note:
Each school and worksite may want to track their own
mileage, so obtain as many maps as possible from Arkansas Department of
Transportation before the first Task Force meeting, if possible. Need to
highlight the highway to take to the destination from the starting point for
your county before giving to site. Need to provide them with some sneaker or
bicycler symbols for their teams.
2. Make one symbol for each walking, biking, or running
team that can be moved across map as mileage increases; sneakers and bicyclers
have been used successfully. Give each team a number, and mark it on sneaker
or bicycler symbol.
3. Make a map "key" so each sneaker or bicycler symbol can
be identified easily as belonging to a particular team.
4. Decide where to post map(s) so the most participants can
check the progress of their team sneaker or bicycler.
5. Post map, with key, and symbols for each team.
6. Take pictures of walkers, kick-off, motivational
activities, maps, school groups, worksites, awards and final recognition
activities; place in scrapbook and/or make slide show for final awards and
recognition activities.
7. Collect news articles about Walk Across Arkansas participants and activities and place in scrapbook.
Celebration and Awards Activity
Subcommittee
Goal:
Plan and organize a final
celebration of completing Walk Across Arkansas and providing
recognition of "winners," task force members, and volunteers.Note:
Some larger groups, such as worksites or schools, might like
to arrange their own celebration of accomplishments.
Activities:
1. Selecting date and time.
2. Finding appropriate location.
3. Planning a program that includes awarding prizes and
certificates and some fun activities.
4. Coordinating with Public Promotion, Recruitment, and
Media Subcommittee to make sure media will be there.
5. Coordinating with Motivation-Prizes, Incentives, and
Awards Subcommittee regarding awards and certificates.
Programming Suggestions
1. Picnic, lunch, potluck supper with activities like
taste-tests for best tasting low-fat dessert or low salt snack or low-sugar
dessert or low-fat Mexican food.
2. Have a lively speaker to talk about the benefits of
continuing to walk by forming a Volksmarching Club or other walking clubs in
your county. Speech should be kept short.
3. Have slide or video show showing key events during Walk Across Arkansas; people love seeing themselves and their friends,
neighbors, and family.
4. Have at least rough totals of miles walked; convert that
to total number of times the county walked around the world (25,000 miles is
around the world once); try to have other facts ready like oldest (with their
permission) and youngest participant; funniest team name, funniest or best
looking team t-shirts, best looking team banner.
Subcommittees meet and report back to entire group
Set next meeting date
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