News
Feel free to look through our archives.
April 15, 2010 -Fitness Garden Dedicated at Mount Olive College
MOUNT OLIVE – On Tuesday, April 14, Mount Olive College dedicated its Fitness Garden, which is the third and final component of the overall Fitness by Design Program which was initiated in 2007.
FBD is a regionally focused program of the Pope Wellness Center at Mount Olive College that targets at risk families from Wayne, Duplin, and Sampson Counties. The central goal of FBD is to change the lifestyle of poor and underserved clients in ways that significantly reduce health risks from obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. The central components of FBD include: exercise fitness, social fitness, and nutritional fitness.
According to Dr. Sandy Maddox, Associate Director of the Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center, the Fitness Garden is a component of the program that integrates both exercise and healthy food choices.
“AgriScience Education students are paired with fitness participants or ‘Garden Buddies’ to maintain the garden area thus providing exercise and horticultural therapy as participants weed, water, and harvest their garden produce,” Maddox said. “The fresh produce harvested helps participants make healthy food choices and the nutrition education program assists them in learning how to prepare the fresh produce in healthful ways. The Garden also offers participants as well as members of the community a quiet refuge to visit and enjoy.”
Dr. Philip P. Kerstetter, President of Mount Olive College, and Kevin J. Jean, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, were on hand to greet guests and to thank representatives from The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation and The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust for their continued support of Mount Olive College and the Fitness by Design Program.
“Colleges are a tremendous resource to a region offering knowledge, energy, and enthusiasm,” Kerstetter said. “The Fitness by Design Program and the Fitness Garden are examples of what can happen when organizations partner with the College to create unique opportunities that have the ability to shape and transform not only the lives of our students, but also the lives of individuals who would not otherwise have these kinds of opportunities. We are very thankful to both The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation and The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust and look forward to a continued partnership.”
Mount Olive College is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The College, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Research Triangle Park, Washington and Jacksonville. For more information, visit www.moc.edu.
Photo 1: Attendees of the Fitness by Design Garden Dedication are pictured behind one of the boxed garden beds.