Marquette wins $9,000 grant

For eight weeks, the City of Marquette was in a competition with two other Michigan cities for a chance to win public health and wellness grant money.

At the City Commission meeting Monday night, the city was presented a check for $9,000.

Residents of Marquette competed in the Big Green Gym Challenge against Kalamazoo and Grand Traverse County.

The competition was put on by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.  After all the numbers were added up, Marquette and Grand Traverse tied for first place.  Prize money was split by combining first and second place.

“Team Marquette and Team Grand Traverse had roughly the same number of team members, but the competition was really intense, and Marquette has a lot of great opportunities for everyone to get out and get active, so I knew they were going to do well,” Blue Cross Blue Shield Senior Community Liaison B.J. Puchala said.

“At Blue Cross, we use the Blues Community Challenge model throughout the state, so in any given year we have quite a number of communities participating in different challenges.  That’s one of the ways we encourage people to get out, get active, and get healthy.”

Team Marquette logged nearly 38,000 miles of physical activity during the eight week contest.