Marion residents are invited to join Mayor Larry Gill in taking steps toward building a healthier community at the town’s Walk with the Mayor event. Set for 8 a.m. Saturday, April 13, the walk will begin and end at the Hamas Temple Shrine.
Gill said Walk with the Mayor is the first of several initiatives intended to promote healthier choices among town residents as part of a grant through the Mississippi Department of Health.
“So the mayor’s walk is an initiative that we’re going to start. It’s a first annual,” he said. “It’s a part of a Mississippi Department of Health grant that’s encouraging a healthier community.”
Following the walk, Gill said, a number of local vendors will be set up in the Shriners’ building sharing information about health-related resources in the area. Residents will have the opportunity to talk with the vendors and even sign up for personal training if they feel so inclined, he said.
“You have different trainers there that people can set up times to train and get more fit,” he said. “That’s one thing we’re trying to promote here in Marion, and so we’re glad that we’re able to use that grant to fund this.”
Marion aldermen in March agreed to apply for the Mayoral Health Council grant through the health department to help fund health-related projects throughout the town. The grant program is intended to promote health equity by increasing recreation opportunities for residents, improving access to healthy food, reducing tobacco use and more.
The grant, which provides a maximum amount of $5,000, can be reapplied for annually to build on prior years’ work.
Assisting the town with the health initiative are Darrin Mitchell Jr., a personal trainer and founder of nonprofit exercise and wellness organization B.T.B.Y. Way of Life, and N’Spire Walker, whose Afrocise program combines exercise with African dance.