Medifast Partners with OPTAVIA Community to Promote Healthy Habit Creation
Medifast held its first Healthy Habits For All Week, a week of service dedicated to advancing its mission of offering the world Lifelong Transformation, One Healthy Habit at a Time®.
The company partnered with its OPTAVIA Community of more than 30,000 independent OPTAVIA Coaches with the goal of promoting healthy habit creation in local communities. From Monday, September 9 through Sunday, September 15, 2019, thousands of OPTAVIA Coaches, community members and corporate employees joined forces globally to volunteer, fundraise and donate.
“From flagship events to one-of-a-kind fundraisers, this past week marked the start of a movement led by our amazing OPTAVIA Coaches,” said Medifast Chief Executive Officer Dan Chard. “One by one, we are investing in the health and wellness of our local communities and bringing healthy habits to our neighbors who need it most. Through Healthy Habits For All, we are succeeding in advancing our mission and empowering generations to adopt healthy habits through education and access.”
While thousands of volunteer hours were logged at fundraising and volunteer events hosted by OPTAVIA Coaches, the company partnered with the OPTAVIA Community and non-profit organizations to host four flagship events in Annapolis, Maryland; San Diego, California; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Brooklyn, New York. Service activities at the events included:
- Assembling bikes for the students at the Living Classroom’s Foundation, a Baltimore – Washington, D.C. nonprofit that disrupts the cycle of poverty and makes communities safer, stronger and healthier by teaching lifelong skills to children and youth.
- Packing nearly 4,000 healthy, shelf-stable meals and snacks into backpacks with personalized messages in Brooklyn and Salt Lake City with the non-profit Blessings in a Backpack. The organization provides meals for school children on the federally-funded Free and Reduced Meal Program who are at risk of going hungry on the weekends.
- Helping to revitalize a school in San Diego with HandsOn San Diego, including restoring the school’s health and wellness rooms, beautifying the exterior and engaging a PE class to promote healthy motion.
Healthy Habits For All Week is part of Medifast’s philanthropic initiative, Healthy Habits For All, which empowers generations to adopt healthy habits. By teaming up with local and national nonprofits, the initiative aims to provide the education and access necessary to make healthy habits a reality for everyone. To date, Medifast and the OPTAVIA Community have helped provide kids in need with up to 2 million healthy meals.
