Barber Employees Step It Up in Erie County

Each Monday, we share stories that reflect our commitment to providing hope and opportunity to individuals and families across our communities.  This post is written by Julia Karvelis, a communications intern at Barber National Institute who is exploring how storytelling can connect people to our mission. 

Installing exercise into your day can be a battle for many people. Often many individuals may feel overwhelmed to squeeze fitness or exercise into their day. Physical activity is vital to the human body and helps maintain its bodily functioning and improve mental health. Barber National Institute supports employees of all departments to take charge of their health by providing ergonomic training and equipment to create a safe workspace and highly encourage incorporating movement throughout the workday. 

Barber National Institute entered a physical fitness campaign, known as Step It Up Erie, to compete with 40 other organizations through logging their daily step count. Barber National Institute and other local businesses gathered with their fellow coworkers to team up and find creative ways to implement more steps into their workday.  

Over an 8-week period, walkers monitored their steps both as individuals and as a team. Teams competed in three different categories based on the size of the organization. Barber National Institute competed in the large business division with a total of 43 active steppers. Members of Barber National Institute's team came from a variety of departments and leadership roles. They lifted each other up and stepped their way to the finish line to secure themselves the highest average step count of their division; with an overall average of 224,750 steps per person.  

With 9,664,251 total steps throughout the 8-week period, it’s evident that Barber National Institute loves to step out together and show the public not only the great work that we do but show off our goals as an organization the mission we follow to reach them.