Tavares woman shares her passion for fitness

December 31, 2015

jill.dygert

Other

0

Orlando Sentinel
By Elira Benavari

TAVARES — Annacelia Gander has always had a passion for healthy living and decided to share her enthusiasm with others by creating the website GetFitLake.com, which provides online information about opportunities to achieve a healthy lifestyle both indoors and out throughout Lake County.

Whether someone would like to know the addresses and offerings at area parks, programs at gyms and fitness centers, dance studios, the Golden Triangle YMCA, locations and hours of farmer’s markets, area sports programs and more, details are a click away. Anyone visiting the site can also find out about upcoming area sporting events such as foot and bike races, great places to kayak, canoe or sail. There also is nutritional information and contacts for disease prevention, with links to get detailed information as quickly as possible.

“It is our mission and vision to increase awareness within the community about overall wellness that emphasizes fitness, nutrition, and a variety of connections to help people achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles,” she said. “We want to get everyone involved.”

After moving to Tavares from New York with her husband almost 20 years ago, retiring from a career as a registered nurse and health-care administrator, Gander was amazed at how much Lake had to offer and felt compelled to help people gain easier access to link them with their interests.

Gander is chair of the board of directors for Get Fit Lake, a volunteer organization funded by the WellFlorida Council, which partners with hospitals, the National Training Center, Lake Community Action Agency and other agencies. Gander said the state Department of Health assisted in creating displays and business cards to be used at participating area doctors offices to get the word out about the website.

Although the local and national issue of childhood obesity was a big motivator for creating the site initially, Gander said her experience as a health-care professional enabled her to recognize that these childhood issues can be more successfully addressed when it involves participation of the entire family.

“My whole life has been about helping people make positive changes in their lives and I have always felt a great deal of satisfaction in encouraging people of all ages to find ways to do that,” said Gander, who works out regularly at Gold’s Gym in Mount Dora. “When people find out about the website, they get really excited because they didn’t know all of the who, what, where, when and whys with so many ways to get fit and stay fit that are all over Lake County.”

 Read this article online. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/lake/os-lk-get-fit-lake-healthy-activities-20151231-story.html

Back to News page
Post by jill.dygert

Comments are closed.