In a noon ceremony at the Parkersburg Country Club, the Center for Aging in West Virginia Inc., in collaboration with 10 community partners and seven local funding partners, announced a $320,000 grant by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant will be used for the reduction of obesity in low-income neighborhoods in Wood County through the Neighborhood More Active People Project (M.A.P.).

The foundation grant was a dollar-for-dollar match of local grants, bringing the total amount to $640,000. The seven local funding partners are the Sisters of St. Joseph Charitable Fund, the McDonough Foundation, the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation, BB&T, the Wood County Commission and the Rotary Club of Wood County.

Beginning this month and continuing for four years, the M.A.P program will be implemented in the neighborhoods of Jefferson, Fairplains and Franklin schools. These locations were selected by examining the financial situation in the neighborhoods as well as the interest in the individual areas.

According to the M.A.P. program, increased physical activity is best achieved by helping individuals incorporate it more into their everyday lives - where they live, work, go to school and have fun. In other words, in their neighborhoods.

"Our goal is to assist residents of three neighborhoods in Parkersburg to better incorporate healthy eating and regular physical activity, such as walking, into their everyday lives," said Dr. Brenda Wamsley, executive director of the Center for Aging and Healthcare.

Wamsley will direct the project, which will provide programs at churches, schools and other community centers that promote fitness and overall health.

The Jefferson neighborhood was represented at the luncheon Tuesday afternoon by Shirley Parks, a longtime resident who participated in a focus group about the feasibility of the project.

"We get in such a humdrum way of life, and this program will help us both physically and psychologically. They've chosen a good program, and we're the right people for it," she said. The luncheon at which the grant was announced was sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph Foundation.

"One year ago, we began to ask the question, 'What can we do to promote physical fitness in the community?' The Center for Aging and Healthcare did an outstanding job in developing this promising model," said Sister Jane Harrington, executive director of the fund.

After a healthy lunch and the practice of fitness band exercises by all present, Mayor Jimmy Colombo closed the luncheon.

"It speaks very well of our community that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation selected us from over 200 other areas in the United States for a grant," he said. "I have to praise all of the groups involved and the Sisters of St. Joseph for the initiative to start up this program, which will be beneficial to every member of the community."

About 21.2 percent of Wood County residents are obese and 32 percent are physically inactive, which is significantly higher than the national average. In 2002, West Virginia ranked first in the nation in the prevalence of obesity and 10th in physical activity.

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