Teaming Up, Getting Healthier

Chatham Borough and Chatham Township have joined forces to encourage residents to be a little bit healthier this summer.

Borough Mayor Nelson Vaughan launched a healthy lifestyle challenge for borough residents earlier this summer. The challenge, which people can sign up for filling out a pledge and returning to Vaughan's office or the farmers' market committee booth at the borough farmers' market, encourages people to become more healthy in a variety of ways.

People who participate, for example, must make it their mission to have a normal resting heart rate and normal blood pressure. They must meet a weight goal they set for themselves and must exercise for 40 minutes to an hour four to six times per week.

Vaughan said he approached township Mayor Nicole Hagner with the idea of jointly presenting the campaign. Hagner quickly got on board.

The challenge, which was previously called the "Chatham Borough Mayor's Healthy Lifestyle Challenge," will now be termed the "Chatham Mayors' Healthy Lifestyle Challenge." It was conceived of by the borough Mayor's Wellness Committee.

Township committee member William O'Connor, who is a personal trainer, will oversee the challenge for the township.

"Bill has graciously agreed to be the fitness czar of Chatham Township," Hagner joked at a Township Committee meeting Thursday.

O'Connor said nearly 300 towns in the state have already enacted a similar program.

"I'm pretty excited about this," he said earlier Thursday at a special Borough Council meeting, during which Vaughan discussed the joint challenge in detail. "I think certainly our township could use a program like this."

The challenge lasts until Oct. 30, after which each person participating is graded on their performance. They are also given a midpoint grade on Sept. 11.