Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and the Coca-Cola Company announced Saturday a three-year program to encourage exercise throughout the city of Boston by hiring veterans to teach and lead classes in parks throughout the city’s neighborhoods.
The program, Troops for Fitness, is a collaborative initiative between the National Recreation and Parks Association, The Coca-Cola Company and the City of Boston. Walsh, Commissioner of Boston Parks and Recreation Chris Cook and Commissioner of Veterans Services Francisco Urena spoke at the announcement ceremony at Suffolk University Law School.
“Health and fitness are both a priority of my administration and of Boston,” Walsh said to a crowd of about 35 attendees. “The grants we are receiving will help create more resources for fitness recreation in our neighborhoods.”
Troops for Fitness is part of a larger effort to end veteran homelessness by 2015, Walsh said. The exercise programs began Monday with a running club and Zumba class.
Dana Johnson, vending development manager for Coca-Cola, said the collaboration with Coca-Cola will have a significant impact on veteran engagement with the city and improve general fitness for residents.
“[Troops for Fitness] is a collaboration between business, government and civil society,” she said. “Bringing those forces together to make a positive and more meaningful impact with the community.”
There are about 20,000 veterans living in Boston, Urena said.
Walsh also announced on Oct. 6 that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is providing a $3 million grant to the Supportive Services for Veterans Family Program in Boston, such as New England Center for Homeless Veterans, which will benefit homeless and at-risk veterans.
“There are currently a robust group of about 12 instructors right now [leading exercise classes], and we are always looking for more,” Urena said. “We want to diversify our neighborhoods. We are looking for people in East Boston, we are looking for people in Roxbury and Mattapan sections, as well as all of the other 18 neighborhoods in the city that are already accounted for.”
These classes will employ veterans as teachers, which is something that sets the program apart from others, he said.
“We are so excited about this because veterans bring so much leadership,” Urena said. “We want to use this leadership.”
Classes will be held year-round, said Alvin Morton, who is running a Troops for Fitness group in Dorchester’s Franklin Park.
“We will run in the rain,” he said. “We will run in the snow as long as nobody slips. We’re going to go year round, and we’re going to make sure that we get healthy and stay healthy.”
Several attendees said they are optimistic about the benefits Troops for Fitness would bring to the city.
Lillian Oneal, 75, of Jamaica Plain, said she is excited about the new fitness opportunities that this program will provide residents.
“We all need fitness here,” she said. “[These classes] are an opportunity to do some exercises.”
Oneal added that it is important for elderly residents to remain physically active.
“If they get in that stage where they are not active, what happens is their mind is not as alert, their movements are slow,” she said. “They get in that situation where they don’t want to do anything, and I want to get them out of that. I want to get them motivated and looking forward to things like this that come. I think it is so important.”
Nicole Duhamel, 40, of Dorchester, said she is excited that the program is coming to her neighborhood.
“Perhaps if you get [people involved] in something like this,” she said, “it will give them the confidence to work out on their own and utilize the parks.”
