BOSTON and PORTLAND, Maine and HARTFORD, Conn., March 10, 2018 – Thirty lucky YMCA children from around New England gathered at the Celtics practice facility in Waltham, Mass., to close out the fourth annual #SunLifeFitToWin program.
Celtics players Shane Larkin, Terry Rozier, and Marcus Smart each led a team of kids in a healthy smoothie contest, shared their advice on eating and living healthy, and even showed some moves on the court.
“Being here with these kids is a humbling experience,” said Marcus Smart. “It opens your eyes–you see there are things more important than basketball.”
“We have the greatest job in the world,” said Terry Rozier. “We get to play basketball and give something back to the community.”
Fit to Win is a four-week program hosted by the Greater Boston, Southern Maine and Greater Hartford YMCAs. Kids get special tracking sheets where they record their fitness and healthy living activities, such as push-ups, jumping jacks, screen time, and choosing water over soda or juice. At the end of the program, the kids had eaten over 18,000 servings of fruits and vegetables, drank only one – or less – sugary drink for over 4,000 days and spent nearly 200,000 minutes doing a physical activity. About 240 kids from around New England participated, and 30 “top performers” were chosen to make the trip to Waltham and meet the players.
“The Fit to Win program helps kids embrace healthy habits and shows them that physical activity can be fun,” said Kathy deCastro, head of Human Resources for Sun Life and board member of the YMCA of Greater Boston. “Sun Life is strongly committed to helping people live healthier, more productive lives, and one of the best ways to do that is to engage children.”
Sun Life and the Celtics partner on programs that promote health and wellness for the community, focusing on diabetes awareness and prevention. Each November – Diabetes Awareness Month – they hold the #SunLifeDunk4Diabetes campaign, which raises money for the YMCA of Greater Boston’s Diabetes Prevention Program. To date, the #SunLifeDunk4Diabetes campaign has raised nearly $300,000.
Sun Life has donated more than $17 million to the diabetes cause worldwide, and continues support through local and national YMCA programs, as well as the American Diabetes Association’s Wellness Lives Here initiative. Sun Life also runs the Team Up Against Diabetes Grant program, which awards funding to various community non-profits around the country focused on diabetes support, education, awareness and care.
Sun Life Fit to Win will return in early 2019!