Columbus County Drops a Ton
Healthy Carolinian community wide effort to improve health in Columbus County.

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Columbus County Drops A Ton was developed, organized and implemented by Deborah Albritton of Columbus County Healthy Carolinians, Janice Young of the Greater Whiteville Chamber of Commerce and Mark Gilchrist with The News Reporter. Both of these organizations have large networks of businesses and organizations behind them and saw this project as the right opportunity at the right time.

Local government and businesses have realized the burdens of lost productivity, increased medical insurance premiums and low morale associated with illnesses related to obesity and poor health. These problems that are brought on by decades of bad habits made it easy for local businesses to want to partner on this initiative to make a difference for the citizens of Columbus County.

This project is a collaborative project in every sense of the word. Volunteers from around the county and have worked to develop the project and educational and organizational materials. Seven main sponsors and sources through the Columbus County Healthy Carolinians provided seed funding to get the program going.

Because of the state of the county's health, the county and municipal governments, hospital, school systems and college have embraced this project initiated by Columbus County Healthy Carolinians. Southeastern Community College employees and students are so enthusiastic that they are hoping to lose a ton of weight on their own. Teams have been organized in churches, businesses, organizations, the hospital and the health department. Columbus County Healthy Carolinians has worked diligently to promote this program that advances prevention in every sense of the word throughout their community.

Healthy Carolinians of Columbus County has developed a strong media/promotional campaign. The News Reporter; which is the lead sponsor of Columbus County Drops A Ton, has donated many pages in its newspapers to promotional ads for the project and also space for health and wellness articles and photographs. The paper introduced a program that should carry on the effects of Fit in 2005 far beyond its built-in one-year boundary. "Fit in 2005" is a special section in the paper dedicated to the wellness of Columbus County residents. Three special issues will appear in the paper this year and will continue through the years, perhaps with a slightly different name.

The Drop A Ton kits include a resource manual, which has detailed information on all of the 26 "A-Z" healthy habit pledge letters that participants adopt. The manual also has local and national contact information for healthy lifestyles, dietary guidelines and a special section on reducing stress. Also in the kits is a monthly pocket calendar with more useful information on health, a Goal-Grid calendar to track progress, a brochure on preventing obesity and a DropATon A-Z reminder card. Participants that pledge to quit smoking also received a brochure to help them quit. The manual also includes an inventory of public parks throughout the county, a listing of speakers bureau, from which groups may invite area professionals to speak at their meetings, and a detailed suite of tools designed to help people manage the stress in their lives.

Healthy Carolinians of Columbus County has gotten good strong commitment for this project as evidenced in the promotional items donated. Winners in the Drop A Ton event will win ton-related prizes, including a pickup truck. Other prizes planned are a ton of bricks, gravel, animal feed, bottled water and even manure fertilizer. The local newspaper, a twice weekly, will give away 18 one-year subscriptions, or one ton of newspapers. A local convenience store owner has donated 324 gallons of regular-grade unleaded gasoline.