Authored by Reeve Chace, MPH
The Let’s Go! Home Office presented a Redy Award to Nathaniel “Van” Beckman on Tuesday, December 18th, at the Let’s Go! Androscoggin office at the YWCA in Lewiston. The Redy Award is a prestigious award given to community members or organizations that have demonstrated outstanding commitment, leadership, and innovation to Let’s Go!.
Van began work as the Let’s Go! Androscoggin Coordinator in August 2011 as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, and has provided dependable and creative programmatic support to the School, After School, and Early Childhood settings ever since. His tenure as a VISTA volunteer ends this week.
Help Healthy Andrea Game
One of his most innovative contributions has been the Redy Road Show, which has been featured at health fairs and other community events. The Redy Road Show features the game “Help Healthy Andrea,” an interactive exhibit for children that brings to life the 5210 message and helps kids practice healthy behaviors. For example, in the “5” part of the game, children toss 5 beanbag representations of fruits and vegetables through Healthy Andrea’s mouth before moving on to the “2” part of the game, where they flip over a faux TV that becomes a basketball hoop. Van enlisted the help of an architect friend to construct the game out of plywood, then asked other friends to help with the painting.
Erin Guay, Health Promotion Manager at Let’s Go! Androscoggin and Van’s supervisor for the past year, said of the honor, “We at Healthy Androscoggin are thrilled that Van Beckman has received a coveted Redy Award. Van has made a tremendous impact on our community by coordinating the Let’s Go! Androscoggin initiative. He has touched so many lives in direct and indirect ways and we couldn’t be prouder of his accomplishments honored through this award.”
We at the Let’s Go! Home Office couldn’t be prouder either. Congratulations, Van!