ROTARY PROJECT ENCOURAGEs ADAIR COUNTIANS TO WALK EQUIVALENT OF EARTH’S CIRCUMFERENCE

The circumference of the Earth at the equator is 24,901.55 miles. That’s quite a distance, but the Columbia Rotary Club has undertaken a project to get Adair Countians to walk at least that many miles over the course of the next few months.
At the club’s regular meeting on Monday night, new Rotary president Hunter Durham unveiled the plans for the new campaign.
“We decided as a club to adopt  the Wellness of Columbia and Adair County as our 2008-2009 project,” Durham explained. “We want to work with the health department and other organizations develop programs and ideas to help the community improve their health and wellness.”
Durham noted that Kentucky is ranked as the seventh fattest state in the nation, and that efforts are being undertaken in various towns to get people in better shape.
Kelli Bonifer provided some statistics about the general state of health in Adair County. The county ranks 91st in the state in terms of overall health, but noted that Adair County ranks among the counties that can most improve its health status by changing personal behaviors. Two things that can be improved is the county’s residents’high rate of smoking and high rate of obesity.
With these facts in mind, Durham said the club came up with the idea of “Columbia walking around the world.”
“We’re not talking about people getting out and walking to Europe – that’d be a long swim,” he jokingly said. “We’re talking about people getting out and walking regularly, and keeping up with the miles. They can turn in the miles that they’ve walked, and we’ll keep a running total.”
To get the program underway, Durham said that each Rotary club member has pledged to walk at least five miles each month.
“If you think about walking around Columbia, that’s not too much,” he said. “If you walk around the square five times, you’ve gone a mile. The track at the Christian Life Center is .46 of a mile, and the walking trail at the Chamber of Commerce’s roadside park is .25 of a mile.”
Durham said that club members have been discussing the walking program with various businesses and organizations, and are in the process of getting forms made to keep up with the miles and finalizing other details of the project.
“Every two weeks, or every month, we’ll tally up the miles, and see how far we’ve gone,” he said.
More information on the Walk Around The World program will appear in later issues of the paper. Anyone that would like to participate or has any questions can contact Durham or any member of the Rotary Club.