A great big thank goes out to the staff of the children’s area in the Scarborough Public Library for championing and administering the summer wellness program entitled “Body Smarts for all your Parts” – a sister program to the summer reading program. With the assistance of Kristen Peto in the Children’s area and with wellness ideas provided by Scarborough Wellness, more than 140 forms were turned in during the 10 week program!

The weekly wellness forms consist of a rotating checklist of ideas designed to encourage children to practice safety, exercise, and healthy eating by checking off all of the suggested items they performed each week. The program also offers healthy tips/recipes, quick snack ideas and an exercise log. A winner is drawn from each week and activity prizes are awarded (jump ropes, monster flying discs, lacrosse sets…). Congratulations to the following prize winners and to all the children (and adults) who are trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle in an unhealthy era: Susan Kirkland, Marisa Carbone, Elizabeth Poulin, Autumn Landry, Marina Horner, Hannah Griffin, Ian Lander, Jack and Ben Hughes, and Daniel and Laura Volan. Enjoy your new toys and look for the program again next summer at the Library.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Scarborough Wellness is a group of local citizens promoting healthy lifestyles for people of all ages. The group has organized wellness fairs, group exercise events, and town-wide walks along with providing speakers for current wellness topics. For more information, log on to scarboroughwellness.org and let us know if you want to be on our email list for upcoming events and local wellness information.

Our next event is the 3nd Annual Bridge to Health Walk (or run or bike) on Sunday, Oct. 1. Join us anytime between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to enjoy all or a portion of the Eastern Trail here in Scarborough. Bring your family and friends for quality time together outside. Giveaway tables will be set up at Pine Point Road and Black Point Road. Limited parking is available at the trail head along Pine Point Road, with backup parking at Blue Point School, or at the Gawron Architect building at 29 Black Point Road. The event is free with healthy snacks and water provided. Thank you to Scarborough Community Services, Communities Promoting Health at PROP, The Current, and Hannaford for their ongoing support of these events. Hope to see you there!

Heidi Will,

member of Scarborough Wellness