Posted by: thepinetree on 07/15/2010 03:13 PM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 07/15/2010 10:38 PM
Expires: 01/01/2015 12:00 AM
Local MOTHER LODE Business Teams with First Lady MICHELLE OBAMA to Fight CHILDHOOD Obesity
VALLEY SPRINGS, CA -- July 15, 2010 -- The work of a husband and wife team of Mother Lode entrepreneurs has been accepted into the Apps for Healthy Kids competition led by First Lady Michelle Obama and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Created by Phil and Liz Weaver, their online wellness application Break Pal - Fitness at Your Desk (www.breakpal.com) will now compete against 30 other applications in its category, most of which were developed by much larger corporate game developers...
Apps for Healthy Kids challenges software developers, game designers, students, and other innovators to develop fun and engaging software tools and games that drive children, especially “tweens” (ages 9-12)-- directly or through their parents-- to eat better and be more physically active.
“We're total bootstrappers,” said Phil Weaver. “To build the application we needed multiple skill sets--web development skills, video production skills, social media marketing skills, etc. Since we had no budget, we learned to do each one ourselves and just got it done.” The Weavers are not strangers to fitness and wellness however. Phil has been a professional teacher of martial arts for more than 15 years and boasts three black belts. Liz, an instructor for several years, also has a black belt. Together, they run the Sheng Chi Fitness Center in Valley Springs in rural Calaveras County.
The winning applications, to be decided by August 15, will be awarded $10,000 and, perhaps more importantly, will be promoted for at least one year by the First Lady’s Let’s Move! campaign, which hopes to end childhood obesity within a generation. Winners will be selected by a panel of esteemed judges (including Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, and Aneesh Chopra, the U.S. Chief Technology Officer). In addition there is a popular choice award. You can vote for Break Pal at http://www.appsforhealthykids.com/application-gallery/break-pal. The Weavers are encouraging area residents to vote for Break Pal.
Break Pal is an Internet-based workplace wellness program that utilizes a social media space to help people get and stay in shape. It helps anyone who works or studies at a desk to stay healthy and fit by delivering guided micro-workouts at timed intervals right to their computer desktop. Users gain points for exercising and can compete with their friends on the system. Since it is web-based, Break Pal is accessible to anyone with a computer and Internet connection. A common problem with workplace wellness programs in the past has been their inaccessibility for small businesses, classrooms or telecommuters. While nearly 97% of large companies offer workplace wellness programs, they are almost non-existent in small businesses. Break Pal has gained users all over the world. From government employees in Botswana to special education classrooms in Texas, users are discovering this easy way to stay in shape and avoid the health pitfalls of life or education behind a desk.
The Weavers hope that, thanks to Apps for Healthy Kids, awareness of Break Pal will spread even faster. “It has the potential to increase bottom lines while decreasing bottom size,” says Liz Weaver. “If we can get this out to more people, we can help a lot of companies increase profits, their employees stay healthier, and kids in classrooms fight obesity while at the same time reduce health care costs for everyone.”
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