In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than one-third of American children and adolescents were overweight or obese. To address this alarming statistic and to support health initiatives in our community, the YMCA of Orange County is taking childhood obesity head on through its Earn a Bike program.
The Earn a Bike program, founded two years ago, began operation at an Orange County school where almost half of the student body is considered to be overweight or obese. Earn a Bike was designed with the intention of educating kids and families on the importance of healthy eating and exercise, with the incentive that the kids could earn a bike for their commitment and dedication to the program and to a healthy lifestyle.
“We are dedicated to finding programs to prevent diabetes and obesity,” Ron Erickson, executive director of YMCA Orange County, told me. “This is one preventative tool that we can offer to kids in schools.”
The Earn a Bike program is being offered as a free service to selected students at Whittier Elementary School in Costa Mesa. Participants commit to a 12-week after-school program that includes sports, activities and professional nutritional consultations designed to empower them and their families to adopt lifelong healthy eating and exercise habits.
Partnering with Children’s Hospital Orange County, Hoag Hospital’s Mary & Dick Allen Diabetes Center and other health organizations, the YMCA is able to offer this health and fitness program free to the participants. And with the support of generous donors, it is able to reward children who complete the program with their very own bicycle.
To date, the program has served more than 100 Orange County kids, earning rave reviews from participating families.
“For many of the kids, this is the first time that they have set a personal goal and achieved it,” Erickson said. “Learning how to take control of their lives through healthy living is empowering for them.”
While earning a bike is a big motivation to complete the program, Erickson shared with me that the kids get much more out of crossing the finish line. “The effect that the program has on the kids’ endurance ability can be quite dramatic,” he said. “We see a number of kids who show a decrease in body mass and an increase in performance on their endurance assessments.”
While Earn a Bike is gaining momentum among Orange County families, Erickson said we still have a long way to go in educating our youth and community about obesity prevention.
“A lot of people are unaware that there is this great need within our community,” he said. “More and more young children are being affected by childhood obesity and, as a community, we need to address the problem.”
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