This month we are highlighting Camp Brookside Community Captain Lauren Meade to both show appreciation for her service and to showcase a little bit of her story. We hope it will resonate with some of our readers and motivate them to start their journey toward a healthy and active lifestyle change. We strongly believe that without the hard work and dedication of our Community Captains our mission would be impossible to achieve. They are dedicated to making their communities a happier, healthier, and an altogether brighter place to live. We are forever grateful for their service and passion for creating free opportunities for their community members to participate in.
In our daily lives we face obstacles that make it difficult for us to maintain a healthy lifestyle, Lauren’s advice about how to overcome these daily obstacles and stay healthy is simple, “Make it a priority, I value my health and body so taking the time daily to be active is always at the top of my list. If you choose to make health a priority, then it’s actually easy”.
Lauren enjoys outdoor activities, the more time she can spend outside playing the happier she is, Lauren says “being outside is my meditation”. Her love for the outdoors has allowed her to meet amazing folks in the community. Lauren has enjoyed a broad range of sports, ranging from team sports to more recent outdoor recreation such as rafting, kayaking, climbing, hiking, yoga, and stand up paddle boarding.
Lauren is the Zip line manager for Adventures on the Gorge. In the 6 years she has lived in West Virginia and guided, she has noticed that the majority of her guests have been from out of town. When asked what motivated her to become a leader and mentor in her community, leading the way for a more physically active community she responded “I would really love to see more West Virginians take advantage of their beautiful home and resources to get active, Go Local”!
Active SWV Community Captains are combating health barriers by providing free weekly physical activities to their communities. You can get involved by attending a program in your community or by becoming a Community Captain in your community. Lauren’s advice on joining Active SWV is “Be an inspiration to the people around you, giving back to your community is free and so rewarding”.
You can join Lauren on the river at one of our free Stand Up Paddle Boarding (SUP) programs at Camp Brookside. New River Gorge National River is one of 25 national parks selected to receive a 2016 Active Trails grant from the National Park Foundation, the official charity of America’s national parks. Through this unique partnership with New River Gorge National River and Active Southern West Virginia are able to offer a multitude of free wellness programs to Camp Brookside, an emerging environmental education center located in Summers County, West Virginia. Active SWV Community Captain volunteers completed instructor certifications and skills certifications prior to teach wellness programs at Camp Brookside, including outdoor yoga, tai chi, stand up paddle boarding, fly fishing, archery and guided hikes.
You can also stay connected with us by liking our main Facebook page Active Southern West Virginia, keeping up with our Events Calendar at activeswv.org, and following us on Twitter & Instagram (@activeswv).
