October is Walk to School Month

Tue September 29 2009
Posted Sep 29, 2009
16,014

statewide Join millions of students, teachers, and parents across the globe who will be walking to school during the month of October. October is the International Walk to School Month and thousands of schools will be hosting events. October 7th, 2009 is the official International Walk to School Day and already almost 3,000 schools in the United States have registered their Walk to School Day event. If your school is hosting an event, register it at the International Walk to School, iWalk, website: www.walktoschool.org. Registration will allow your school access to free resources for your event. Currently in Iowa, 29 schools have registered on the International Walk to School website. Communties in Iowa that are registered are Altoona, Anita, Atlantic, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Elkader, Essex, Grinnell, Hamburg, Massena, Milford, New London, North Liberty, Spirit Lake. Thompson, and Winterset. Walking to and from school can have huge benefits to the enviornment and to your own health. Children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity a day and walking to school is a great way to obtain this daily requirement. A study done by the EPA (2003) found air quality to be measurably better around schools with more walkers. If you have any questions about Walk to School Day please contact Molly Gable, Safe Routes to School Director at the Iowa Bicycle Coalition, at 515-309-2867 or Molly@iowabicyclecoalition.org.