KUKUI GROVE – The Kaua‘i Great Weigh Out kicked off in full swing, Saturday at the mall as several hundred people converged on the center stage area as the first step in weight reduction and healthy living. Nalani Brun of
KUKUI GROVE – The Kaua‘i Great Weigh Out kicked off in full swing, Saturday at the mall as several hundred people converged on the center stage area as the first step in weight reduction and healthy living.
Nalani Brun of Ho‘ola Hui Hawai‘i who is the coordinating agency for the weight reduction/healthy living program said that preliminary figures indicate that there are 20 participating teams, 150 Me, too participants, 60 Seniors, too participants, and at least 40 Kids, too members for this year’s program.
The day started off with members of the Seniors, too getting a lesson in calibrating pedometers, and following that up with a short walk around the mall while team members of the 20 teams started to arrive, each team designated by special colored tee-shirt uniforms.
Once registered, team members set about trying to decide who would be the five competitors in the —hula hoop contest, who would be the soul in the Money Machine, and which members would be involved in the Relays. Younger members in the Kids, too arena worked with 4-H members to create special tee-shirts using vegetable cutouts to stamp designs onto a blank shirt.
To keep everything moving along, the BYUH Shaka Steel band made special accommodations in their Kaua‘i tour to make an appearance and provide just the right kind of music to get team members limbered up in time for the hula hoop competition. Kelvin Moniz of the Kaua‘i Food Bank was without a team for this year’s event, but couldn’t help but show up to enjoy some of the team antics during the competition and weigh in process.
Teams are weighed in so they have a basis of comparison as they participate in a series of healthy living and weight reduction programs for the next several weeks until April 30.
A final weigh in will take place at the end of the program to see which of the 20 teams has the greatest amount of weight loss.
Dennis Fujimoto, dfujimoto@pulitzer.net. photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253)
