A program to educate those with disabilities on how to stay fit while having fun is offering family activities at "First Fridays" in Downtown Mount Vernon.
The Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Concepts in Community Living and Mount Vernon Nazarene University Athletics partnered to start a program to teach people with disabilities to learn how to safely exercise and spend time with their friends and athletics students at MVNU.
It was called "Bodies in Motion."
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was unable to go on in-person, and "BAM! Bodies and Minds" was born.
BAM! is a virtual workout program that has MVNU Athletics Coordinator of Development Paul McNeal hosting each session, along with a person with a disability, a person in a wheelchair and at least one athletics student to show different ways anyone can exercise safely.
"We do those live on Zoom, and a MVNU student records it, edits it and puts it up on our dedicated BAM! YouTube channel for anyone to watch later," said Brittany Coon, public outreach coordinator for the Knox County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
Paul's son Anthony McNeal is the director of Main Street Mount Vernon, which hosts "First Fridays," and Coon said that they thought it would be a way for them to get the word out about their program in the community.
"First Fridays," the Downtown Mount Vernon event, is back this month, honoring "Hometown Heroes."
Coon is excited to bring BAM! to the event.
"Each month, we are doing different and fun activities for families to partake in," Coon said. "For June, we had a basketball challenge, Hula Hoop hopscotch, water ball games, ring toss, a selfie station, spin art, DIY bubbles and more. We are also inviting other providers to join us to host an activity in our area."
In July, Coon said, 10 to 11 different partners are set in the activity zone to host activities for families.
Some of the activities include a tie-dye station, a selfie station, corn hole and 4th of July coloring pages.
The activity zone for Bam! will be located on Gambier Street between Main and Gay Street.
"We would love for families to enjoy First Fridays and make memories that will last a lifetime," Coon said. "We hope that they will enjoy the different games and giveaways that we have to offer each month in the activity zone."
She said that they've participated in First Fridays before but not to this level, and they have never organized the activity zone for families.
"Our goal is always to make events as inclusive as possible. It is very important to us that people with disabilities are accepted into our community so they can live, work, grow and thrive in our community," Coon said.
The First Friday event is Saturday, July 2, at 6 p.m.
.webp)
.webp)
