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News, May 2011.

To be Healthy is in Fashion!

In May 2001, two outdoor sports grounds equipped with fitness machines were opened in two locations in Belokalitvensky Raion, Rostov Oblast: at the Children’s Creativity Center (Belaya Kalitva) and in the yard of School # 9 (Vostochno-Gornyatsky settlement).

In the evening of May 18, community members of Belaya Kalitva gathered at the Children’s Creativity Center and in the morning of May 19, students, teachers, former students and parents of Vostochno-Gornyatsky gathered in the yard of School # 9 for the opening of the sports grounds. The thirteen pieces of vandal proof fitness equipment will be available to everyone 24 hours a day.

This generous gift was made possible thanks to the program Sustainable Development – Youth Votes for Health! launched in early 2001 by the Alcoa Foundation in collaboration with the Fund for Sustainable Development. This one-year effort is targeted toward promoting healthy life styles among local youth in two communities in regions of Alcoa Company presence: Kirovsky District in Samara and Belaya Kalitva and Belokalitvensky Raion(Rostov oblast).  Under the Program, the following events have taken place: a slogan and emblem contests and lectures and mini projects in schools on the subject of health improvement. However, the installation of new generation outdoor fitness equipment and the possibility for local youth and other community members to use it at all times has become the key component of the Program. The leading officials of the district, A.Ovcharov and O.Kaudin, Mayor V. Fedorchenko, head of the settlement’s administration O.Snisarenko, and Alcoa-Metallurg Rus representatives, director V. Pavlov and G. Alentyeva, head of Corporate Relations Department, were present at the opening of the sports grounds.

The promotion of health as a priority resource and a source of the country’s wealth in general and of each individual in particular was the main idea of all speeches made at the opening events. The presenters stressed that to be healthy today means to be trendy and that the very title of the Program – Youth Votes for Health! – sounds as a motto.

The Children’s Creativity Center and School # 9 that have become the recipients of the fitness complexes prepared colorful athletic and theatrical performances. Of much interest was the workout of children attending the Leader Center Children’s Association from Belaya Kalitva (coordinator – I.Seregina) and the fitness aerobics performance on step platforms of girls, AMR volunteers, (instructor – E.Kisileva). In Gornyatsky settlement, the opening ceremony included performances of motorcyclists, bicyclists, young gymnasts, dancers and the school’s vocal band.

The latest fashion – for a healthy lifestyle – is making its way to Belokalitvensky Raion. Thus, on May 20, during the congress of children’s public associations Radost, the first trainings of high school students from 24 raion schools located around Belaya Kalitva took place on the outdoor fitness machines.

In early June, in Samara, another seven fitness grounds will be opened in schoolyards of Kirovsky District under the Youth Votes for Health! Program.

Over 3,600 students from nine schools in Belaya Kalitva and Samara will vote for heath in 2011 with support from FSD and Alcoa industrial facilities in Russia.

 

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