Activate Martinsville Henry County (Activate), the Martinsville Henry County Coalition for Health and Wellness (the Coalition) and Martinsville Leisure Services recently joined together to design a project to promote activity through walking. ‘Martinsville Walks’ is a 10 week activity program in which groups of Martinsville City employees will walk (virtually) to New York City, New York.

To walk to New York City from Martinsville takes approximately 954,000 steps. Each participant is challenged to increase their number of steps by 1,000 steps per week. By doing so, individuals should be able to walk 3,000 to 5,000 more steps a day by the end of the 10 weeks. To keep track of their progress, participants are provided with a pedometer, a step conversion chart and a step tracker form which is turned in weekly to their team captain. All of those who complete the walk to New York City receive an “I Walked to New York” t-shirt and will be entered in a Grand Prize Drawing. Thus far, 24 teams have signed up and the competition is fierce.