Grocery store 'family' gets fit
Food Pavilion employees lose weight, raise money for Relay For Life
MOSES LAKE — Jennifer Yates plans to get a bellybutton ring when she reaches her ideal weight.
But that's not the only thing the Food Pavilion employee hopes to achieve at the end of four months.
Yates and her co-workers at the Moses Lake grocery store embarked on an in-store weight loss competition. The one who loses the most weight receives a basket complete with day spa offerings.
The winner doesn't have to chip in, but the remaining players all have to chip in 25 cents per pound for the biggest amount of weight lost.
The money goes to the grocery store's Relay for Life team.
The group lost 33 pounds in the first week, Manager Marcos Sanchez said. He estimated the group lost 80 to 90 pounds so far.
The idea germinated with Yates. Inspired by the "Biggest Loser" TV show, she thought it would be a good idea to launch a similar undertaking, with proceeds going to the store's Relay For Life team.
"Something we could do that we would do healthy," employee Donna Anderson added.
The in-store competition began Jan. 2 and ends April 2.
123 Fit owner Lisa Hansen offered her business facilities to the employees, including weekly body composition tests and support in personal training and diets.
"One of our members was in there saying, 'They're going to do this really cool thing,'" Hansen said. "I've been a Relay for Life supporter for both of my businesses and cancer's touched my family like it has everybody's, so I thought that was a great way to support what they were doing. It's such a great cause."
Sanchez noted the co-workers occasionally play-sabotage one another by placing chocolates on sign-up sheets.
"They're having fun with it," he said.
Sanchez took over as manager of the store two months ago. He thought it was a great idea and an opportunity to show support for Anderson, whose husband is battling liver cancer.
"There's a lot of employees that have family members that have had cancer," he said. "It just shows some support for everybody. We want to make sure that we as a team come together, because we're like a family. Sometimes we see ourselves more than we see our actual families, so this is a way for all of us to come together."
Anderson said such support helps.
"I think we're doing great," she said. "We've fallen off a few times, but somebody else is there to help pick us up. We find exercising with the buddy system really helps. We can unwind, relax and laugh."
Employee Millie Thompson is involved in the contest to help keep up with the grandchildren she's raising, while Maria Hartman draws upon her co-workers for inspiration.
"I've never really exercised or taken a look at my health until this program," Hartman said. "It's given me a chance to say, I'm not really young anymore, it's time to start worrying about and start protecting my health."