FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                 Contact: Winifred Holland

February 24, 2015                                                                   (904) 529-2800

Clay County’s 2015 Healthy Weight Community Champion Honored
Program Recognizes the Town of Penney Farms

On February 10, 2015, the Town of Penney Farms was recognized as the 2015 Healthy Weight Community Champion for Clay County. Winnie Holland, Health Officer for the Florida Department of Health in Clay County presented the recognition during the February Board of County Commissioners meeting in Green Cove Springs.

Florida’s county and municipal governments play an important role in promoting healthy habits by implementing a variety of policies shown to increase physical activity and improve nutrition. “Penney Farms is a community that encourages its residents to walk, bike and lead healthy lifestyles,” stated Holland. “We are thrilled to honor Penney Farms with this recognition.”

Many jurisdictions are making great progress in policy and environmental change. To celebrate these efforts, all local governments in Florida were invited to submit descriptions of their policies and programs. In 2015, the Florida Department of Health is recognizing 65 communities as Healthy Weight Community Champions, an increase from the 38 communities recognized in 2014.

“Health improves in communities through local solutions,” said State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. John Armstrong. “The number of recognized communities has almost doubled from the 2014 recognition cycle which demonstrates a growing commitment among local governments to make Florida a healthy place to live, work and play.”

The Town of Penney Farms was recognized for several of its health related programs:

• The Town’s Comprehensive Plan promotes compact mixed use developments that encourage walking and biking.

• The community has a program to inspect sidewalks on a regular basis. Grants are currently being sought to replace all the sidewalks in the entire community and add sidewalks in the few areas where there are none.

• The Town supports a resident volunteer group, the Volunteers in Police Service (VIPS), that assists the Sheriff’s Department by patrolling the community.

###