As so many of us are learning ourselves, exercise and recreation are paramount to good health especially when confined. Endorphins are critical to keeping mental health stable especially for fragile populations such as those we work with.
As STRIDE begins to consider how things may look in the future for our programming when we can get back into providing active opportunities that include socialization, we are considering the way things may look.
While following all the recommended CDC requirements, our main objective will be to protect the health of our athletes, making safety not only a principle but our primary value.
With groups of 10 or more not allowed to congregate, golf and tennis have remained the only sport options available at this time, both being former programs of STRIDE, which we are defining now for continued small group operations. Once we enter phase #4 which permits open recreation, there will be many considerations for our new STRIDE operating policies.
Paramount considerations and changes will include protective gear; physical distancing; smaller groups; family members as volunteers; opening of our building; disinfecting everything including equipment after use; emergency protocols that interfere with distancing; following CDC cleaning information guidelines; county by county restrictions; PPE‘s for volunteers; Digital access points for everything going forward without paper forms; on-boarding volunteers back in a safe environment with training; adding legal language to all of our forms regarding COVID-19; and lastly, how will STRIDE afford and survive the economic changes.
The future is certainly unknown, but without planning ahead and trying to stay active with what we know we are able to do, many organizations like STRIDE will not survive. I am seeking a diverse group of committee members to help construct this planning process. If you are interested please email
MWhitney@stride.org.
