Giving Wellness: ABC 27 News Harrisburg, PA
1. Welcome: Aleta Serano
Good morning! I’m Aleta Serano, president of the Midwest Food Bank Advisory Board. At Midwest Food Bank, we believe no one should have to worry about their next meal. That’s why in 3 years, we have more than tripled the amount of food distributed, including distributing $24 Million in food this year. All of it provided free of charge, in Pennsylvania. We believe intackling big problems and finding solutions that help people live their healthiest and best lives. Fighting to end food insecurity is our mission and one of our country’s biggest challenges; but another soaring concern is workplace and community health! Today, we are launching a world-class GIVING WELLNESS program to help people cultivate healthy habits, provide nutrition and fitness education, and build stronger connections with friends and co-workers. Clearly, we are not alone in believing GIVING WELLNESS can change our lives as is evidenced by this group of legislators, health advocates, and business leaders. Together, we can build healthy habits and make a tremendous community impact. Thank you to our health and fitness partners, our elected officials, our business leaders, and our pilot companies, Strategic Consulting Partners and CommunityAid. Please visit their display tables for more wellness knowledge.
And now I’d like to introduce Kathy Anderson-Martin, our Executive Director.
2. Giving Wellness Introduction and Launch: Kathy Anderson-Martin
Thank you, Aleta. Yes, we love tackling big challenges and finding even bigger solutions! Beside me here is our GIVING WELLNESS Dream Team: Amber Peterson and Patty and Bryan Sibbach. On behalf of Midwest Food Bank PA, we are honored that you have joined us in our beautiful Capitol building for the launch of our Giving Wellness community health program. At Midwest Food Bank PA, our business is to end food scarcity for those struggling with hunger. In PA, an estimated 1 in 8 people—that’s 1.6 million children and families—struggle with hunger. It’s hard to imagine when 40% of our food supply is wasted. But food supply is not the problem; food distribution is. We will distribute $24 million in food this year to 200 non-profit partners. And we provide every pound, pallet, and box free of charge thanks to millions of private donations. We see the overwhelming need for good food in our communities, and we are blessed with almost 2,000 volunteers, who help us provide 332,000 people with food so that dinner plates and lunch boxes aren’t empty. That’s a 60% increase in # of people being served by our partners vs. last year as we work hard to ensure we distribute nutrient-dense foods and fresh foods where available.In this role, we see a larger challenge in our communities and that is that many of us are unwell—physically, nutritionally, emotionally, and mentally. We eat too much processed foods, and many of us live in food deserts; we sit and scroll instead of walking and talking with friends. Our sugar intake is too high and moving is the last thing we feel like doing after a day behind our computer screens. At Midwest Food Bank PA, we feel we have created a new path to wellness for all. Knowledge without opportunity is powerless. So, we built a health and wellness program to help everyone build healthier habits at home and work. What began as a personal idea to get myself healthier—you can smile at my before and after poster—has now turned into a community and workplace health challenge. And our pilot companies’ employees are crushing it! Thank you to Strategic Consulting Partners and CommunityAid for investing in your employees’ health and fitness and for saying YES to our first GIVING WELLNESS invite!
In true American spirit, we aren’t waiting for someone to “get us healthy.” We created an opportunity for individuals and companies to begin investing in themselves with small steps and changed habits. Here’s what is even more powerful—for every Giving Wellness participant enrolled, a portion of the proceeds goes directly back to Midwest Food Bank PA to provide 11 children with food for an entire weekend!
And …
Giving Wellness is a fun health challenge where groups of friends or employees ear points for sustainable healthy habits like eating more fruits and vegetables, moving, consuming less sugar and regularly connecting with other Giving Wellness friends. Everything is within one app, for nutrition and exercise education, accountability and and interaction with other participants. We’re proud that Mid West Food Bank is the “first food bank to launch a wellness program that impacts community health and workplace health” while also feeding people in need.
Now I would like to invite our GIVING WELLNESS fitness partners, Precision Training Concepts owners Patty and Bryan Sibbach, to share a few remarks.
3. Patty and Bryan: Hello and thank you to our esteemed elected officials, business leaders, and health heroes for joining us in this important work of GIVING WELLNESS! Today is National Women’s Health and Fitness Day, and the perfect day to introduce our fitness and wellness program! Women are leading the way for personal, family, workplace, and community health!
BRYAN: As fitness professionals who have worked with thousands of individuals from 5 to 95, we teach the mechanics to take the best care of our bodies because it’s the only one in which we are given. Not everyone is a professional athlete nor has hours to devote to exercise in a gym, but that’s not what Giving Wellness is about. Giving Wellness is about instilling healthy habits through fitness and nutrition and it’s been our pleasure to provide the road map to easy -to -understand and educational exercise videos for individuals at all fitness levels. We’e seen in addition to the physical benefit of exercise with people the mental, emotional and social benefits too. Exercise has always been the best wonder drug.
PATTY: In addition to fitness, nutrition is key to a healthier workplace and community. We’d like to invite our nutrition partner,Amber Peterson, owner of Amber Peterson Health Coaching, a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, to share some excellent opportunities for nutrition education and impacting change.
4. Amber Peterson – Thank you Patty and Bryan! When paired with consistent exercise, proper nutrition can transform lives. This is where Giving Wellness shines—providing simple, accessible tools for individuals at all levels to learn how small, consistent changes in what we eat and how we move can lead to lasting improvements in our health. Through education and support, we can help people make informed decisions about their food choices, reduce their risk of chronic disease, and ultimately create healthier families and workplaces.
I’m excited to offer nutrition education that empowers individuals to take control of their health. Together, with the Giving Wellness program, we’re making wellness attainable for all.
