HOUSTON – It was 29 years ago this month that Kevin Saunders life was changed forever.
“Thanks to the good Lord I got a second chance,” said Saunders.
A grain elevator explosion left him paralyzed from the chest down so that second chance wasn’t going to be easy.
“Physical injuries didn’t kill me,” said Saunders. “The self doubt and the deep depression that I went through almost did.”
But a wheelchair race a year after the accident in Georgia changed all that. Since then, Kevin has made it a mission to encourage everyone, especially young people, to stay active and never give up. A message he learned through fitness.
“It means a great deal to me to be able to help the young people, to be able to make a difference in the communities across America,” said Saunders
“Behind ever great man is an even greater woman!” Kevin and wife Dora Saunders Summer 2010
That’s why Saunders who was recently nominated for chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports has made it his mission to push his wheelchair through portions of all 50 states with his Fitness 4 All 50 State Tour. With a mission is to inspire and empower the American people, through education to make healthier lifestyle choices.
The vision of the Fitness 4 All 50 State Tour is for Americans to understand the significance of physical fitness and nutrition, as they reach for their goals, and for them to make the necessary changes to lead healthier lives. The purpose is to educate the American people about the positive effects of physical fitness and proper nutrition, in such way that they are inspired to actively make healthier choices.
Fitness 4 All 50 State Tour is a non-profit organization dedicated to educate, motivate, and inspire the American people to set and reach high personal goals and accept personal responsibility for their health and fitness regardless of their challenges, adversities, or personal tragedies. Through government participation and corporate collaborations, we aim to directly teach the American people how to make healthier lifestyle choices.
By providing instruction and materials to students and their parents, communities and states about the effects of physical fitness and nutrition on their bodies, the connection between physical fitness and their ability to reach their goals, how to read food labels, and how to create nutritionally balanced meals. Our goal is to inspire them to get motivated to make healthier lifestyle changes, and provide some of the resources to make those changes, including coupons for free healthy food from national healthy food vendors, daily personal accountability journals with fitness and nutritional tips and conversion charts and shopping lists, and informational websites conversion tables for food and fitness activities. Kevin Saunders was the first person with a disability and Paralympian to be appointed to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports by President George H.W. Bush and the only person reappointed by President Bill Clinton. He also served a special constituent expert for a Special Commission by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and the Department of Health and Human Services to come up with a plan to improve fitness and Health for people with disabilities.
The plan is to tour the United States, visiting various cities in all 50 states, carrying the message of physical fitness and proper nutrition.
The core of the plan is to provide a focused educational experience in the form of a presentation to students in all 50 states. The target audiences are students in public schools grades 3 through 12. The presentation will be provided free of charge to the schools and will cover the following topics:
- Motivation and inspiration to set and reach personal goals for personal fitness and to make healthier choices
- The positive effects of physical fitness and proper nutrition on the mind and body
- The connection between living a healthy lifestyle and the ability to reach one’s personal goals
- The role of accountability and perseverance in making healthier choices
- Where to find more resources, information, and support to make healthier choices
- Recognition of one student in the school who exemplifies the concepts we are promoting
Students will be provided with educational brochures that summarize the information provided in the presentation. Daily pocket accountability journals will be distributed to students, so they may begin their journal towards wellness.
In addition, we will be hosting a meeting with parents at select cities. At the meeting, we will share the key concepts presented to the students. Parents will be encouraged to evaluate their family’s current health habits and make decisions to improve them. We will provide direction and resources to help them be successful. Coupons for free healthy food will be distributed to the parents, as well as tips for creating healthier meals and encouraging physical activity for the entire family.
To supplement our efforts and maximize their effectiveness, we will be meeting with local government officials and community leaders in every city that we visit. We will host a summit that addresses the health and fitness needs of the city, facilitates discussion, and provides solutions to current health problems.
We will create a website that is easy to understand and provides a wide range of physical fitness and nutritional information. The website will contain tips on how to apply the information in everyday life, together with how to read food labels, conversion tables and much more. We will make available templates for the accountability journal on our website Fitness4All50StateTour.com. The website will also provide links to other valuable resources, including websites and books.
To measure the effectiveness of our efforts, we will be using various tracking tools. We will distribute a survey that evaluates the students’ attitudes and habits before and after the school presentations. With the help of school officials, we will measure the students’ health statistics and habits before the presentations and at various time intervals after the presentation. Parent attitudes and habits will be measured with a similar survey. The effectiveness of the health and fitness summits will be measured as well. We will collect data about the attitudes of the city leaders regarding physical fitness and nutrition and the health initiatives before and after the summit.
As the Fitness 4 All 50 State Tour is a non-profit corporation we would appreciate any leads or suggestions for getting the funding necessary to complete this 2 to 3 year tour to make a positive difference and reduce obesity in America one community at a time.
Also anyone who would like to write a letter of support to President Obama of Kevin Saunders as the next chairman of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and his plan for the Fitness 4 All 50 State Tour. Please take a look at Kevin’s homepage at www.KevinSaunders.com and click on the link below the big blue NEVER GIVE UP! that says; Who is Kevin Saunders, and why should he be the Chairman of the President’s Council for Physical Fitness & Sports? There you will see some of Kevin’s Accomplishments experience and plan for the tour and also some sample letters. We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you in city or school near you!
Wishing you all the best,
The Fitness 4 All 50 State Tour team
Kevin enjoys speaking & motivating our nations youth to get fit!
