Donation helps cool community walking

6 December 2007:
The hot summer weather won’t deter a group of keen walkers, thanks to Alcoa and Community First Inc.As part of the Personal Helpers and Mentors program run by Community First from its Mandurah site, a free walking group was formed earlier this year, giving participants opportunities to improve their fitness, lose some weight and enjoy the company of others as they walked.But Community Mental Health Coach, Heather Waters and Community First Program Manager, Lorraine Stephens realised that the hot weather would discourage the group. Heather suggested walking in the pool as a cool way of beating the heat and maintaining participation. So they decided to approach a community-minded company to sponsor some entry passes.Alcoa’s Pinjarra Refinery were enthusiastic and have sponsored $1,000 worth of pool visits, which will almost certainly include some passes to the Waroona Pool for group members who struggle to make the weekly trip from their homes to Mandurah.“We were really delighted with this donation because we thought they might give us $500 for pool passes, but they didn’t hesitate to donate $1,000. Now all our participants will be able to continue their fitness program by walking in the pool every week until the weather cools down again,” Lorraine said.

Contact: Lorraine Stephens, (08) 9550 4444; Mobile : 0400 780 324.