The plan to make Iowa a healthier state is enlisting some well know natives to kick off the campaign. The Healthiest State Initiative seeks to make Iowa the healthiest state in the country by 2016.
Spokesperson Ruth Comer says they’ll start it with a few steps by asking Iowans to stop what they are doing on October 7th to walk one kilometer to jumpstart the healthiest state initiatives. Comer says it’s a long-term goal that seems insurmountable unless you “just start somewhere”, so the walk is a symbolic launch of the initiative.
She says they want people to start thinking about things they can do in theirs lives, communities and at work to move Iowa toward the goal of being the healthiest state. To get the message out you’ll be hearing and seeing public service announcements featuring Iowa celebrities.
Comer says they asked a number of famous Iowans to record the public service announcements and they ended up with 18 from all walks of life that donated their time for the announcements.
The famous Iowans include, Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson, Hawkeye football coach Kirk Ferentz, former U.N.I. and N.F.L. quarterback Kurt Warner. Comer encourages everyone to take up the challenge.
She says you can learn more at Healthiest State website at:www.iowahealthieststate.com. See the video P.S.A below.
The other celebrities who are participated are: Harrison Barnes, former Ames High School standout basketball player; Liang Chow, head coach of the 2008 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team; Stephen Collins, actor best known for the television series 7th Heaven; Tim Dwight, former University of Iowa retired N-F-L football player; Simon Estes, opera singer;Dan Gable, University of Iowa wresting coach and U.S. Olympic champion; Fred Hoiberg, Iowa State University men’s basketball coach;Zach Johnson, professional golfer on the PGA Tour and 2007 Master’s Tournament champion; Lolo Jones, U.S. Olympic 100-meter hurdle finalist; Natasha Kaiser-Brown, U.S. Olympic silver medalist and Drake University track and field coach; Cloris Leachman, Academy- and Emmy Award-winning actress; Ron Livingston, actor best known for the movie Office Space and HBO’s TV miniseries Band of Brothers; Rebecca Meyer, at-home winner on Season 8 of NBC’s The Biggest Loser; Brandon Routh, actor best known for his role as Superman in Superman Returns.