KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Grab your towels, water bottles, exercise mat and sweatbands and save the date for 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10, at Theis Park, which is located at West 47th Street and Oak Street in Kansas City, Missouri.
That's when and where 41Action News will host its first, free community exercise party we're calling "Move For Good KC."
There will be a DJ and exercise instructors leading classes on Zumba, floor exercises and yoga.
It's a festive way to connect the community, have some fun exercising, and raise awareness and money for a good cause.
All ages are welcome, and families are encouraged to attend.
Future free exercise parties will benefit different local charities.
I'm honored that for the first year of "Move For Good KC" my 41 Action News colleagues decided to benefit a charity in my honor.
I announced in February that, after seven years as a breast-cancer survivor, I am now battling metastatic breast cancer.
To show their support, my coworkers voted that all proceeds from this year's "Move For Good KC" will benefit Back in the Swing, a Kansas City-based organization helping breast cancer survivors nationwide.
Here's how "Move For Good KC" works:
- Everyone is invited to this free outdoor exercise party. Participants are required to sign a waiver;
- Check-in starts at 7:30 a.m. with the exercise party set to begin at 8 a.m. and end at 9:15 a.m.;
- Tony Temple with Temple Made Fitness is our presenting partner;
- During the exercise party, we will explain the cause we are benefitting and ask participants if they would like to make a tax-deductible donation of any amount;
- Donations to Back in the Swing can be made online.
I couldn't be more pleased that Tony Temple, founder and CEO of Temple Made Fitness, is our presenting sponsor. He is the perfect person to lead our event because of his haunting family history with breast cancer.
He is well-known as a former University of Missouri running back from 2004 to 2008. He was MVP at the Cotton Bowl in 2008. Since his college football exploits, Tony his his own health and fitness company and is in high-demand with his no-excuse approach to promoting movement.
What I did not know until we talked recently is that Tony has felt the sting of breast cancer in his family more than once. He is committed to raising awareness and encouraging conversation about the disease that his mother and three aunts have all battled and overcome. In 2007, Stage 4 lung cancer also claimed the life of his grandmother, Dolly Randle, who never smoked.
"I had no idea that my grandmother had lung cancer," Temple told me. "She didn't tell anyone until it was too late and I don't want that to happen again to anyone. I think so many people just truly don't know how to handle it (breast cancer) and sometimes talking about it is the start."
"Last year, my mom (Diane Marie Temple) was the last of her three sisters to overcome breast cancer," Temple said.
Temple said he's determined to get breast cancer out of the shadows for those families struggling to talk about it, encourage them to get checked and get treatment and support. Temple said being the presenting sponsor of 41 Action News Move For Good KC will be his first time publicly talking about his personal experience with breast cancer.
"When my parents left at the age of nine, my support system became my mom and my aunts and sisters, the people my mom trusted. Now that I am an adult, this is my way of creating a platform for preventive care to move and have a positive environment," Temple said.
