'Family Fit and Fun Night' to provide tools for better health

USD 234 students can help provide their parents with the necessary tools to promote health and wellness in their families.

At 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, area families are invited to participate in a Family Fit and Fun Night, which will take place at Frary Field north of Fort Scott High School. According to event organizer Chris Sather, the free event, which is being sponsored through a grant from Kansas Coordinated School Health, will provide factual information to families regarding health and nutrition. In addition, the fun night will encourage families in the areas of physical activity and wellness.

Fort Scott High School physical education teacher Tracey Bogina said the event will not only help teach local students how to live healthier lives, but it will also provide the necessary information to increase health and wellness throughout the community.

"Family Fit and Fun Night is an event that was written into our district health grant," Bogina said. "We wanted to provide an evening to promote health and fitness for our students and the entire community."

According to Sather, various health and wellness related groups in the community will be participating in the Family Fit and Fun Night on April 21. Pennies for the Park, Skaters for Scholars, Buck Run Community Center and Mercy Health for Life will be among the groups represented during the event. Event participants will also have the opportunity to partake in free healthy snacks during the evening, Sather said.

Eugene Ware Elementary School physical education teacher Connie Neil said the event will be beneficial to the families who take part in the fit and fun night.

"I feel that any family participating will gain insight into how to live a better fun-filled fit life," Neil said. "We are planning on having booths by different organizations in the community that promote healthy living. We are trying to help families be aware of their choices in the community for doing family oriented fun things together. The main theme is to educate families to the importance of living a healthy lifestyle and ... hopefully it will be passed down to their children."

Not only will event attendees be able to access free health and wellness information and sample healthy snacks, but they will also have their names entered into door-prize drawings to win free health and wellness related prizes. The drawings will be held every 15 minutes, Sather said.

Sather added people can come out on April 21 to "walk a few laps, receive free health information and eat with their family, all for free."