Fit for Market

Cancer outreach project offers an exercise in prevention

Photos By Cabey Fine Photography. Richmond Balance fitness instructor Jennie Meharg leads a free Boot Camp exercise class at the 17th Street Farmers’ Market as part of a new initiative by Massey Alliance to promote healthy lifestyles and cancer risk reduction within the community.

Written by Page Freer

Before you head to the 17th Street Farmers’ Market this summer, be sure to pack your workout gear.

In an effort to spread the word about exercise and cancer prevention, the Massey Alliance, a “junior board” made up of young professionals who support VCU’s Massey Cancer Center, is providing the Richmond community with free outdoor fitness classes now through Sept. 10. Classes are  held every Saturday, at 10 a.m., at the 17th Street Farmers Market.

Fitness instructors from Richmond Balance in Shockoe Bottom are leading the classes, which range in variety from Boot Camp to Yogilates and more.

Massey Alliance volunteers share educational information about nutrition and cancer at the 17th Street Farmers’ Market. Front row, from left to right: Sarah Gravely, Courtney Tkacz, Page McCarthy. Back row, from left to right: Erin Gardner, Carl Sloppy, Brandyn Webster.

“Part of our mission at Richmond Balance is to truly be the neighborhood gym for Shockoe Bottom,” says gym owner Michelle Logan, who’s also a Massey Alliance board member. “What better way to be a good neighbor than to contribute to our community’s health and wellness?”

In addition to the weekly classes, the Alliance will staff a monthly educational table at the market, where volunteers will provide important information about the role of healthy eating in cancer prevention. Tables will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the following Saturdays: June 4, July 2, Aug. 6 and Sept. 3. All volunteers have been trained by Massey cancer experts and are therefore armed with the latest research-based information.

“Fighting cancer is very personal issue for members of the Massey Alliance, and we determined that the most important message we could share with our peers is that the choices we make now can reduce our risk for cancer as we get older,” says Courtney Tkacz, also a Massey Alliance board member and organizer of the farmers’ market initiative. “The opportunity to work with the 17th Street Farmers’ Market provided a perfect way to engage the community and share this critical information.”

Most people don’t think about exercise as a way to reduce cancer risk, says Logan. But according to cancer rehabilitation expert Stephen Gudas, Ph.D., associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Massey Cancer Center, experts in his field have realized the power of exercise in the treatment and even prevention of cancer.

Gudas’s colleague, Diane B. Wilson, Ed.D., associate professor of internal medicine at Massey, cites evidence that people who are more physically active are less likely to develop cancer and less likely to experience a recurrence than those who are not active. And this phenomenon has been shown across many different types of cancer.

“Even moderate exercise, such as a regular walking program, can make a positive difference,” Wilson says.

Find updates regarding the farmers’ market project on the Massey Alliance’s Facebook page:

facebook.com/masseyalliance.