Authored by Ashley Edmondson, Let’s Go! Coordinator
Communities Promoting Health Coalition, A program of The Opportunity Alliance
The Let’s Go! Cumberland County team hosted their first recognition event to honor hard-working childcare, school, after-school and physician champions within their community. This celebration brought together multiple sites from each setting to acknowledge and commend their commitment and dedication to children’s health. Sites were able to network and meet other champions in different settings from around Cumberland County.
The celebration took place in the beautiful Timbers Rooms located at The Opportunity Alliance in South Portland. After mingling and indulging in the delicious food catered by Local Sprouts, the participants played a Let’s Go! Bingo game, designed to spark conversation between sectors, staff, and site leaders. The game was followed by welcoming and honoring two special guests- President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Portland, Suzanne McCormick and the Director of the Let’s Go! Program, Dr. Tory Rogers. Suzanne McCormick acknowledged Cumberland County’s efforts to collaborate and integrate Let’s Go! into other initiatives designed to promote health in Cumberland County, such as the local Healthy Maine Partnerships and Community Transformation Grant work. She shared that Let’s Go! is continuing to grow in Cumberland County, with 116 sites enrolled in the program that are working towards increasing access to healthy foods and creating opportunities for physical activity!
During a fantastic story-telling session, Dr. Tory Rogers encouraged sites to share what they were most proud of and how the Let’s Go! 5-2-1-0 program has made an impact on their program or in their school. Deborah, Program Director from A Child’s World, a center based childcare in Windham stated, “Listening to other sites share their story was inspiring and provided us with more ideas!”
Let’s Go! Cumberland County plans to hold this event annually and is excited to see more sites creating healthy environments for children to learn and play!
