BOSTON and HARTFORD, Conn. and PORTLAND, Maine, April
8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, 30 lucky children
from YMCAs around New England gathered at the Celtics Auerbach
Center in Brighton, Mass., for the
grand finale event of the fifth annual Sun Life Fit to Win
program.
Players Marcus Smart,
Rob Williams and R.J. Hunter each
led a team of kids in an interactive game where they had to
Feel, Taste and Whiff (Fit to Win)
different fruits and vegetables, then guess the ingredient. Later
on, the players took on the kids in a game of dodgeball, and then
talked to them about staying fit and healthy in everyday life.
"No nutritional setup is one size fits all," Hunter advised the
kids. "Keep trying healthy foods and find what works for you."
Fit to Win is a four-week program every winter hosted by the
Greater Boston, Greater Hartford and Southern Maine YMCAs.
Kids from grades 3 through 6 get special tracking sheets where they
record their fitness and healthy living activities, such as
push-ups, jumping jacks, limited screen time, and choosing water
over soda or juice.
"I love watching the players engage with these kids about
exercise and nutrition, and it's such a great way to get kids
excited about health and fitness," said Neil Haynes, CFO of Sun Life Financial U.S. and
board member of the YMCA of Greater
Boston. "It's so important to instill these values in
children. The Fit to Win program shows that when you challenge kids
to be healthier, they really embrace it."
Since the start of the program five years ago, over 900 YMCA
youth in Boston; Hartford, Conn.; and Portland, Maine, have participated in Fit to
Win. This year, more than 250 kids ate over 22,000 servings of
fruits and vegetables, drank one or less sugary drink each day for
over 5,500 days and logged over 100,000 minutes of vigorous
physical activity for at least 30 minutes per day. After the end of
the four-week tracking period, 30 "star performers" – 10 from each
region – were chosen to attend the finale event in Brighton and engage with the players.
Sun Life and the Celtics partner on programs that promote health
and wellness for the community, focusing on healthy living and
diabetes awareness and prevention. Each November – Diabetes
Awareness Month – they hold the #SunLifeDunk4Diabetes campaign,
which raises money for the YMCA of Greater Boston's Diabetes Prevention Program.
To date, the #SunLifeDunk4Diabetes campaign has raised nearly
$400,000.
Sun Life Fit to Win will return in early 2020.
About Sun Life Financial
Sun Life Financial is a
leading international financial services organization, providing
insurance, wealth and asset management solutions to individual and
corporate Clients. Sun Life Financial has operations in a number of
markets worldwide, including Canada, the United
States, the United Kingdom,
Ireland, Hong Kong, the
Philippines, Japan,
Indonesia, India, China,
Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bermuda. As of December
31, 2018, Sun Life Financial had total assets under
management of C$951 billion. For more
information, please visit www.sunlife.com.
Sun Life Financial Inc. trades on the Toronto (TSX), New
York (NYSE) and Philippine (PSE) stock exchanges under the
ticker symbol SLF.
In the United States, Sun Life
Financial is one of the largest group benefits providers, serving
more than 60,000 employers in small, medium and large workplaces
across the country. Sun Life's broad portfolio of products and
services in the U.S. includes disability, absence management, life,
dental, vision, voluntary and stop-loss insurance. Sun Life employs
approximately 6,000 people in its U.S insurance and asset
management businesses. Group Insurance policies are issued by Sun
Life Assurance Company of Canada
(Wellesley Hills, Mass.) and Sun
Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, Mich.). For more information, please
visit www.sunlife.com/us
About the Boston Celtics
A charter member of the
Basketball Association of America (which evolved into the National
Basketball Association) since 1946, the Boston Celtics have won a
record 17 NBA Championships, including eight (8) in a row from
1959–1966, winning their first title in 1957 and their most recent
in 2008. The Celtics have long stood for equality, and respect,
including hiring the first African American Coach and starting the
first all-black starting five. In addition, 35 former Celtics
players, management or staff have been inducted into the Naismith
Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In December 2002 the team returned to local
ownership for the first time since 1963. For more information on
the Celtics, log on to www.celtics.com.
Media Contacts:
Devon Fernald
Sun Life Financial
781-800-3609
Devon.portney.fernald@sunlife.com
Heather Walker
Boston Celtics
617-854-8072
hwalker@celtics.com
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SOURCE Sun Life Financial