Eau Claire Healthy Communities and Wintermission Team Up to Promote Fun Activities to Stay Active This Season
Eau Claire, Wis. (January 25, 2021) - Visit Eau Claire, along with Wintermission and Eau Claire Healthy Communities, have teamed up to promote fun and engaging winter challenges that encourage locals and visitors alike to get out and stay active this season. The challenges can be found on the Wintermission Facebook page as well as Eauwinter.com.
The Wintermission vision statement highlights that, “Eau Claire is a city that embraces winter, year-round activity, and wellness by safe access to community resources.” The challenges that Eau Claire Healthy Communities and Wintermission have created inspire locals and visitors to find things to do outside in our city during the winter, like cross country ski at Lowes Creek County Park, snowshoe at Tower Ridge County Park, sled at Pinehurst Park, etc. Participants are entered into a drawing to win gift cards to local businesses for their participation.
Apart from the gift card incentives, Eau Claire Healthy Communities stresses how rewarding it is to participate in winter activities for people’s general health. The health benefits of going outside include getting proper exercise, getting Vitamin D from sunlight, and finding stress relief. Each of the challenges are constructed with activities that either follow COVID-19 mitigation strategies or are virtual so participants can safely connect with family and friends to avoid social isolation.
“Winter can be a challenging time of year for anyone. Throw in the challenges of COVID and one could easily find themselves in a poor state,” said JoAnna Bernklau, Chair at Eau Claire Healthy Communities. “That’s why we decided to partner with Visit Eau Claire and Wintermission to create some fun, engaging challenges that encourage self-care and physical activity that can be safely done with others in their household or on your own, all the while supporting our amazing local businesses!”
About Eau Claire Healthy Communities Eau Claire Healthy Communities is a coalition which promotes the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities of Eau Claire County through collaborative and focused action. Over 250 partners from across the county convene to advance data-driven goals that address health priorities identified by Eau Claire County residents. Eau Claire Healthy Communities aims to help everyone live better, longer.
About Wintermission Wintermission Eau Claire is a groundbreaking program to reduce social isolation and support outdoor physical activity in winter. Eau Claire is one of three Wintermission cities and will help set new standards for winter-friendly cities in the United States by developing a unique winter city strategy. Wintermission is led by 8 80 Cities, a non-profit organization based in Toronto, Canada and is supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Global Ideas Fund at CAF America. The Eau Claire Wintermission core team involves participation from the Cities of Eau Claire and Altoona, the Eau Claire City County Health Department, UW-Eau Claire, Visit Eau Claire, and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.