B

Healthy Hamblen will continue its mission of providing healthier living options for the county as Walk Across Hamblen returns.

The initiative, that promotes a healthy lifestyle, started in 2016 after the creation of the Healthier Tennessee initiative.

“We started in November of 2016 with an open house to get the community involved. The State of Tennessee had a ‘Healthier Tennessee’ initiative that pushed cities, counties, and neighborhoods to implement localized initiative to encourage a healthier living for the community,” said Frankie Cox, chair of the Hamblen County Health Council.

“We had already had something similar started with the Health Council, but the state offered us $5,000 to get Healthy Hamblen started and that’s when we had our open house.”

In 2017 the initiative held its first event hosted by the Morristown Parks and Recreation Department.

“We kick started our Fitness Fest in January 2017, then that spring we kicked off our first Walk across Hamblen,” Cox said.

“In 2018 we begin with our Monday Miles, where several community leaders would lead groups every Monday on walks throughout the county,” Cox said. “Hamblen County Mayor Bill Brittain did an amazing job as a leader because he would lead his group and then follow up with them at the end.”

After two years of hosting events and promoting a healthier way of living the initiative received state level recognition for its efforts.

“In 2019 we went to Franklin Tennessee because we were designated by the Governor’s Foundation as a Bronze Healthier Tennessee Community and recognized as the community partner of the year because of the work we did in the community.”

However, once the pandemic hit, Healthy Hamblen slowed down, but the initiative continued to promote its mission.

“We continued with our walks until the pandemic. During that we asked people to wear their Healthy Hamblen wherever they did any type of fitness activity and use our hashtag and in doing so we had people participate in Scotland, New York City, NY and the Smokey Mountains.”

In 2022 Healthy Hamblen found that the state’s initiative had ended but that did not stop the group from continuing its efforts.

“We found out in the spring of 2022 that the State of Tennessee discontinued the Healthier Tennessee initiative and now we’re are one of three programs still active in the state,” Cox said. “But we are still continuing by hosting Walk across Hamblen.”

The Fifth Annual Walk across Hamblen will take place March 18 through April 29, with the kick-off 5K being held Saturday, March 18 at 9 a.m.

Registration began February 1 and will close March 1. Its costs $20 per person to sign up and includes a shirt. There will be late registration from March 2 to the 18, but shirts will be limited.

Healthy Hamblen asks participants to form teams of 2 to 10 people and designate a team leader to track miles walked.

The team leader will collect team information and shirts on March 13 or 15 at Talley Ward between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Each team member will log weekly miles and send them to the team leader for 6 weeks, and the leader will submit those totals weekly by Friday at 6 p.m.

Winners with the most miles walked will be announced on Monday May 1 and medals for First, Second and Third place will be awarded at the Hamblen County Health Council’s May meeting.

A bonus award of a $10 gift card for each team member will be awarded based on a random drawing compiled of all the teams who log in 400 miles at the end of the program.

Teams are encouraged to post their progress on all social media platforms using the hashtag #walkacrosshamblen2023.

For more information on Healthy Hamblen or the Walk across Hamblen, visit the initiative’s website or email healthyhamblen@outlook.com.