WALK Newsletter #15 – January 12th, 2022

W – Wow: WAT! 25 Challenge Participation Update

* Check below to see how you can enter in our final raffle for a $10 gift card! * 

Let’s put a bow on it…our anniversary gift for the Walk Across Texas! program’s 25^th year of helping Texans lead heathier lives is now complete. Other anniversary celebrations may continue, because, of course, the 25^th year lasts…well, a year! Since September 1^st we have been hosting a party with over 9,500 of our closest friends…including you! This message marks our final official communication for #WAT25. Thank you for celebrating with us!

We hope the gift of good health is with you for many years to come. The Howdy Health online platform is always open, and you can register a team and log miles anytime you want. Locally sponsored WAT! programs will continue to happen in counties across Texas and additional statewide challenges will be implemented, so stay tuned. To add the finishing touches to this event, here are a few numbers to sum up the #WAT25 effort:

In the WAT! Adult program: 4,663 participants; 789 teams; 103 leagues created; 103 counties in Texas have participated with 764,410.87 miles reported!

In the WAT! Youth program: 4,950 participants; 125 teams; 25 leagues created; 37 counties in Texas have participated with 81,239.14 miles reported!

Additional results of the WAT! 25 Challenge: 

• Increase in participants who self-report meeting physical activity guidelines post program: +11%
  • Pre-program = 47%; post-program = 58% 
• Decrease in participants who self-report no physical activity in the past month: -8% 
  • Pre-program = 19%; post-program = 11% 
• Participants who reported they or their family benefited from the program: 95% 

WAT! 25 Challenge Program Economic Impact:  

• Over the lifetime of the 4,663 participants in the WAT! 25 Challenge – WAT! Adult program, approximately 133 could prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes and / or cardiovascular disease through sustained levels of physical activity
• Type 2 Diabetes Economic Impact: $12,110,309.48
• Cardiovascular Disease Economic Impact: $11,183,997.03
• Total Economic Impact: $23,294,307 (rounded to the nearest dollar)

The economic benefit of the Walk Across Texas! Adult program is a measure that uses WAT! program evaluation results, disease risk rates, health care costs, and productivity parameters. Economic benefits are calculated for program participants who moved from self-reported inactive (pre-WAT!) to active (post-WAT!). The final number of participants benefitting is based on a follow-up survey that determined the percentage of those who maintained activity levels 3 – 9 months post program.

By engaging in regular physical activity, this reduces a person’s risk of disease each year of their remaining life. The dollar value of the economic benefit of WAT! is calculated in terms of the projected lifetime health care cost savings and worker productivity gains.

Congratulations to the winners of the random drawing of those who provided feedback on the WAT! 25 Challenge:

And we have our final round of Texas Youth on the Move award winners! 

The December Texas Youth on the Move winners are:

All Winners – be on the lookout for an email about how to claim your prize! 

Be sure to check out our previous newsletters to see if you or a team member have won: https://walkacrosstexas.org/news

A - Action: * One More Mini Challenge Opportunity! *

We realized that our final mini challenge was during the busy holiday season, so we would like to offer a final opportunity to share your thoughts about the WAT! 25 Challenge. 

Once again, in celebration of our 25^th year anniversary we will be selecting 25 additional winners! 

All new entries will be included in a drawing for a $10 dollar gift card to Amazon. To be eligible for the drawing, participants must be registered in the WAT! 25 Challenge – WAT! Adult program. 

Here is the link to submit: WAT! 25 Challenge – Mini Challenge #14

Same link as last time!

The submission must be received by Wednesday, January 19^th by 11:59 PM to be entered. Since this is the last newsletter, we will contact winners directly through email. We will also post the winners on our program website: https://walkacrosstexas.org/news   

L – Learn

You’ve done it! You’ve started a new year and a new exercise habit with the Walk Across Texas! program. The key now is to keep going and make the habit stick. Create a solid foundation for lasting success with these tips and techniques from the American Council on Exercise’s How to Create New Habits That Stick

 K – Keep on keeping on! 

Wouldn’t it be awesome if good health were a destination? ...if there were a final marker that you could point to and say, “this is it…I did it!”. Obviously, the completion of a program is a kind of destination. You can be proud of the fact you participated for a full 8 weeks of WAT! Heck, you can be proud of the fact that you signed up and took the steps just to start with WAT! Every journey starts with one step at a time! Still, the fact is that good health doesn’t just happen, and then you are done. We must all work continually to practice healthy habits. We know that seven out of the ten leading causes of death are directly related to what we eat and what we do. If there were a pill you could take to prevent premature death, you would probably do it, right? An easy, free “prescription” we can all “take” for good health is 30 minutes or more of moderate physical activity on most days of the week. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?!? The trick is being intentional and consistent long term. We want to close out this challenge by offering a strong recommendation – based on research – saying that we hope you will keep on keeping on. Whether it is another WAT! program, or one of our other Extension programs, or any other challenge anywhere else, or on your own, we hope you keep it up! We are cheering for you and your health!

All our best,

The WAT! 25 Committee