The Tribune

AFTER consuming all the ham and turkey over the Christmas holiday, the newly formed ANOO Association and Sports Fellowship Institute will hold a “Walk It Off” event on Saturday, January 5, 2019.

ANOO Association, a cultural and civic organisation that was created to help improve the level of the Bahamian people and SIF, a sporting body designed to assist in the development of sports in the country, will use the event to make a contribution to the Bahamas Diabetic Association.

During a press conference yesterday at the BDA office on Prince Charles Drive, ANOO’s president Clinton Minnis said when they heard the appeal by BDA Director General Eugene Thurston, they quickly responded to lend their support in helping them to secure some much needed financial assistance.

“We thought it was like the miracle in Miami,” Minnis said. “God was working on his behalf and he didn’t know it. So this is something that is critical to the many persons who are affected by diabetes in our country.

“With the demographics of us being the sixth most obese country in the world, we have been challenged to lend support to the Bahamas Diabetic Association to help with their sustainable living platform to help our people live longer.”

“Walk It Off,” as it’s being dubbed, provides a time for persons to get rid of the excess weight that they would have accumulated from the Thanksgiving season to Christmas holiday in an effort to increase the idea of healthy living.

The race is scheduled to start at 6am from the RM Bailey Park and travel south on the East-West Highway, right onto East Street South, north on Robinson Road and east back to the finish line at RM Bailey.

Shantia Kerr, the vice president of operations in the ANOO Association, said they are encouraging families, churches, groups, corporate offices and the public in general to come out and participate.

Categories include male and female 15-and-under, 20-and-under, 30-and-under, 40-and-under, 50-and-under, over-50 and over-70 age groups.

The entry fee is $15 for adults and $10 for students 11 years and younger. Proceeds from the event have been earmarked for the BDA.

“It’s a good way for us to kick off a good year of health awareness and to help us to sit fit for the upcoming year,” Kerr said. “We hope that everybody will be in good spirits out that morning.

“It might be cool, but hopefully we can get in a good walk to start our year off right.”

Awards, certificates and gift packages will be presented to the participants.

“We’re just hoping to see a crowd out there to help the Bahamas Diabetic Association with their fund raising,” Kerr said.

Thurston said the main objective of the BDA is to act as a support group for persons who are diagnosed with diabetes.

But he admitted that in recent times, they have been faced with the challenge of finding the funding to carry out their mandate.

“On an annual basis, it takes about $100,000 to fully run this organisation,” he pointed out. “We’re not merely near there.”

With about six or seven programmes and projects on their agenda, Thurston said the BDA is hard-pressed to secure the funding to assist them.

“I am particularly pleased that you (ANOO) have thought about us and we look forward to working with you in the very near future,” he stated.

Margaret Daxon, the education director for the BDA, said their main goal is to sensitise the public on the importance of living their lives past the stage of being diagnosed with diabetes and not think that it’s a death sentence.

“One of the things we do is we teach people how to live a normal life,” she said. “We teach them how to understand that there is hope and that you can conquer this condition.

“We screen you to identify if you have any problems or issues that actually could put you at risk for further complications and if we notice those complications, we will make sure we can refer you to persons who can assist you or if those complications have moved a little further down the line, where they are not so easily revisable, then we help you to live with those conditions.”

Through their process, Daxon said they also advise the public on what they should and not be eating as well as providing a fitness programme that they can follow.

Registration forms are available at the BDA’s office in the Legacy Plaza, just past BTC and before you get to the Elizabeth Estates Clinic on Prince Charles Drive, or call 356-2349.

Persons can also contact Minnis at 803-6326, Kerr at 558-4295 or Brent Stubbs at 426-7265 for more information.