fitALANYC & SUSTAINABILITY TEAMS – In September, we held an educational and engaging lunch-and-learn entitled, Stay Fit While You Sit. The event was hosted and sponsored by our BPs, Rosemary Farrell of Arenson Office Furnishings, while HumanScale, provided demonstrations with ergonomic chairs, monitor stands as well as an ergonomic desk that raised and lowered for corrective stand/sit posture needs. Members enjoyed seeing the actual furniture samples Human Scale made available. In addition, Dr. Edmund Shockey of Empire Sports and Spine presented to us how understanding proper body alignment, and, performing various daily exercises at our desk would help relieve the pain and degeneration of our bodies while sitting too long. Dr. Shockey demonstrated corrective exercises, and desk yoga to relieve a host of issues from slouching, carpal tunnel, headaches, stiffness and fatigue. At the end of the presentation, Dr. Shockey offered complimentary Posture Screenings, a technology he uses in his everyday practice, that provides patients with specific information about their individual challenges. Dr. Edmund Shockey is a board-certified physician specializing in the field of chiropractic care. For more information about Dr. Shockey, checkout their website here.

The Stay Fit While You Sit session was well received!  Members refreshed themselves and were ready to take on their remaining day re-energized! Additional thanks to Team Member Janet Casiano who assisted in organizing the event as well as the introduction of Dr. Shockey to our members. 

For the month of October, members and their firms enjoyed a complimentary desktop wellness series courtesy of a collaboration between fitALANYC and Lance Breger and his team at Infinity Wellness Partners (IWP). A 30-minute wellness webinar entitled Avoid Office Body, commenced the series in October and was followed by weekly 15-minute webinars, which included: It’s Time to Unwind, Stretch & Move, Fall Fitness Program and Healthy Brown Bag Lunches. Registrants were able to enjoy these brief wellness sessions directly from their desktops each week, providing a well-needed respite to their day. Many thanks to Lance and the IWP team for their generosity and we look forward to collaborating with them again.

During the past holiday season, fitALANYC and the Sustainability Teams collaborated with the Law Firm Sustainability Network (LFSN) and the Community Services Team for a “Holiday Trot” to help us feel great during the cold weather and burn off those extra holiday pounds! Since the human body is a microcosm of the natural world, Holiday Trot participants were urged to think about eating fresh, healthy and organic (local too!) to stay fit and keep pollutants out of their bodies and the environment. The Holiday Trot began on December 2 and ended on December 15. The winners for the most steps during the step challenge, was SANTA’S SLEIGH,  with a whopping 877,928 steps, which translates to nearly 440 miles. The team also received ALANYC’s donation to its charity of choice:  FOOD BANK NYC

Check out the overall Team totals and Charity organizations selected:

Congratulations to Marie Carole Tertulien (Red Hot Chili Steppers) with the most steps of 265,864 (132 miles) and winner of a $25 gift card from ALANYC. We would also like to recognize those with over 200,000 steps each:  Nellie Lefteratos (Tinsel Toes): 258,011, Rose Jaworecki (Too Hot to Trot): 217,424 and Cassandra Jackson (Santa’s Sleigh): 210,353. We are all winners in our Holiday Trot Challenge! The teams in total took 4,700,432 steps, equivalent to 2,350 MILES (a distance of walking to Las Vegas from New York).

We hope you enjoyed the Holiday Trot Challenge! All should be proud of what you have achieved. Special thanks to Gayatri Joshi, Executive Director at LFSN for putting this challenge together and bringing to fruition all our fitALANYC charity endeavors. Special thanks to Mark Shore of Atlas Consulting, who donated $200 to team Santa’s Sleigh’s second Charity, Backpack Foundation! Stay tuned for upcoming events from the Sustainability Team including a “show and tell” presentation by the Department of Sanitation illustrating appropriate disposal of various office waste and several Earth Month events!

Rory Celentano
Team Lead, fitALANYC
[email protected]

Nadia Wagner
Co-Lead, fitALANYC & SUSTAINABILITY TEAM
[email protected]