Get Movin’ this summer

It’s shaping up to be the biggest year ever in the homegrown, countywide program to get kids in shape.

Get Movin’, now in its fourth year, has received statewide attention for its unique way of getting people to exercise.

There are prizes – such as passes for swimming, skating and bowling – for being active for 30 minutes five times a week.

Last year, nearly 2,000 kids signed up. The goal this year is even bigger – 4,000 participants.

The program officially kicks off Saturday with events in Lynnwood, Everett and Marysville, where people can sign up for the program.

There will be activities for the whole family at each site, including yoga, juggling, hula hoop, hip-hop dancing and jazzercise.

Free prizes given out at these events include flying discs, jump ropes and hackey sacks for kids and pedometers for adults. Information also will be available on how to fix quick, healthy meals.

This year, in response to requests, Get Movin’ was expanded to include adults so the whole family can “be physically active and play together,” said Caroline Brown, a health and fitness director with the YMCA who organized the kickoff events.

“Everyone in the family will find something they can do.”

Registration continues through June 30 at a number of area parks and recreation departments, Boys &Girls Clubs locations and YMCAs.

Get Movin’ is sponsored by 23 groups and organizations, including the youth clubs, the American Heart Association, The Everett Clinic, Kimberly-Clark, Providence Children’s Foundation, the Snohomish Health District and The Herald.

The summer activity program was launched in 2004, an outgrowth of The Herald’s yearlong series on childhood obesity.

Last month, a Snohomish Health District report found that 60 percent of the county’s adults are overweight or obese and 22 percent of kids in eighth, 10th and 12th grades are obese or at risk of obesity.

“We know there is an obesity problem in the nation … and in the county,” Brown said. “What most people have told us over the last three years is that they enjoyed the activities (the program provides) and they wished it would go on all year.”

Renae James, who lives in Marysville, said her three sons have signed up every year for Get Movin’ since it first began four years ago.

Jonathan, 13; Matthew, 11; and Joshua, 9, have taken advantage of the free passes for activities such as climbing, ice staking swimming, roller skating and even hip-hop dancing given to participants who meet the weekly activity requirements.

“It’s really fun,” she said. “The kids are all excited” about Saturday’s kickoff event.

Others, such as Sherry Peterson of Marysville, are participating for the first time. She helps care for six grandchildren between the ages of 6 and 13.

Since the program allows kids and adults to count any outdoor activity its activity requirements, “they could do this anywhere, no matter where they’re at,” she said.

She and her husband, Jim Peterson, plan on joining the grandkids in activity.

“We bike ride with them all the time,” she said. Her husband plays tennis and golfs and sometimes takes the grandkids with him.

“It’s a healthy thing, you know?” she said. “It’s better than sitting in front of a TV.”

Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.Get Movin

Get Movin’ is a free summer program that provides incentives for kids and adults to be active for 30 minutes five days a week.

Each week that the goal is met, participants earn rewards, including passes for free swimming, rock climbing, ice skating and other activities.

Sign up at the kick-off

Three kick-off events set for Saturday involve free family activities and prizes.