The Blog

As the end of this year’s Community Challenge draws near, Prosper, Texas, scoots ahead of its competitors in the small size category and moves into first place. Now, folks in Prosper are working hard to finish strong and win the competition!

The town’s mayor, Ray Smith, has been instrumental in getting the community on board with the Challenge. As part of the Challenge, he created a “Mayor’s Challenge” video to encourage the entire community to participate in the competition.

With the mayor and town council’s support, Julie Shivers, who is the Recreation Coordinator for the Town of Prosper, and her team asked businesses, churches, and schools to participate in the Challenge. To further energize the health initiative, Shivers encouraged her coworkers to register for the Challenge and post Healthy Selfies! Shivers also worked to form a Mayor’s Fitness Council for Prosper.

By promoting the Challenge, Shivers has helped motivate others such as Tristan Cisco to become healthier! Cisco, who is the water conservation education coordinator for the Town of Prosper, says the Challenge has encouraged her to exercise regularly and lose weight.

A huge motivator for Cisco is her coworkers, as they encourage one another to participate in the Challenge and make healthy choices. “Encouraging others to post their Healthy Selfies and ‘Walk for Wellness’ every Friday has helped to hold a lot of us accountable. It’s fun to get people from other departments together to do something to make our workplace healthier!”

Kristi Soto, who is a social media contest specialist for the Town of Prosper, says she and her coworkers have worked as a team to ensure they are doing everything they can to incorporate healthy activities into their daily tasks. “During meetings, we stand. Every Friday, we all go for a morning walk. If we see someone drinking a soda, we take it away and replace it with a water bottle!”

For Soto, “Having a healthy community is automatically a win for everyone, so here at the Town of Prosper, we really do want to encourage people to live healthier lives. Of course we all have a competitive spirit in us to win, but this is more than just winning a trophy; this is promoting a better quality of life for the residents we work for.”

Kudos to Prosper for taking the lead!