Walden Family Services, committed to providing programs and services to support foster and adoptive youth and families, prioritizes the health of its employees. Throughout the year, WFS held multiple events and activities for employees, including the Mile a Day Challenge in March. The challenge encompassed activities that engaged every employee regardless of fitness level or physical ability. It encouraged employees to get out and move around for at least the equivalent of 1 mile a day. This could be walking, jogging, cleaning house, going to the gym, chasing after your 6-year-old, etc.! WFS employees formed teams and had a friendly workplace competition to get moving.

Staff used a conversion chart to calculate activities into miles, and kept track of everyone’s miles moved for three weeks. Approximately 40 employees, about half of all staff, participated, moving an approximate collective 2,072 miles in three weeks! The winning team had an average of 82 miles per person. One high achiever travelled to Thailand during the event, and he walked 177 miles on his own in just 2 weeks.

The Walden Family Services team was thrilled with the results, and many developed longer lasting healthy habits by getting out and trying new activities during the contest. One employee expressed that prior to the contest she did not go out and walk at all during the week. During the contest she developed a healthy habit of walking every evening with her two kids and dogs.  This is a habit that they still keep up to this day and has had a great impact on their health as well as staff and family bonding.