Rotary Club of Charleston Wellness Program Started

by Jennifer Audi
(Charleston, SC)

I'm Jennifer Audi, a member of the Rotary Club of Charleston, SC. I've always been a wellness and fitness advocate and wanted see if we could start a wellness program in our ~ 250 member club. I asked fellow Club member Ellen Jackson, also a wellness advocate who happens to work at Roper Hospital, if she would help. She said yes.

We then put together a proposal to our Board which was adopted. The proposal was to put together a committee to draft and implement an action plan to get a viable program underway. I'm going to briefly summarize some of its highlights below.

However, my purpose in posting this is to see if anyone else out there is doing something similar and ask that they might share their experiences so that we all might be able to learn and adapt from other successful organizational and Club wellness programs.

We have joined the Wellness Council of America (WELCOA) and are adapting their recommended program to our needs.

Mission:

Improve the health and wellness of Rotary members through education, menu modification and participation in on site as well as extra curricular health activities

Three Main Initiatives:

1. Build Awareness Through Education: Quarterly speakers, monthly flyers, direct members to worthwhile websites, provide access to educational materials.

2. Menu Modification: Improve the Quality, Consistency and Availability of Healthy Alternatives for the Weekly Menu, Work with Caterer for a healthy menu, revisit themed meals, provide healthy alternatives, more fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, etc.

3. Create Opportunities for availability of health care services and extra curricular physical activities: Free health screening, personal health profiles, monthly "walk the bridge days," Saturday promote fellowship activities, etc.

We hope you will share your success stories so we can learn quicker about what works.