On December 14, 2021, WeTHRIVE!℠ held a Facebook Live event to announce the winners of the 2021 WeTHRIVE! Community Champion Awards. (If you missed it, you can view the short video here.) This week, we’re introducing you to the winners! Read on for Day 4’s featured champion…
Paula Sherman is the 2021 WeTHRIVE! Champion for Health Equity.
As director of parks and recreation for the Village of Woodlawn, Paula does her best to integrate health considerations for all into the programming offered by the Woodlawn Recreation Center. She wants to engage Woodlawn residents of all backgrounds to make the space ‘more than a gym,’ and has worked tirelessly to make that tagline a reality.
Paula works hard to ensure healthy programming for people of all backgrounds and interests. For the 50+ Club, she brought in nurses from Galen College to help educate them about health issues. For Woodlawn Recreation Center’s summer campers, she encouraged healthy eating habits through vegetable gardening. Paula also collaborates with the nearby Wyoming Recreation Center.
Paula works tirelessly to help build the social connectedness of Woodlawn. She constantly checks in with residents to see what kinds of programming they might enjoy and is doing her best to solicit responses from all over Woodlawn, not just the ‘usual suspects.’
Paula’s gratitude
Thank you to the amazing team at WeTHRIVE! for honoring me as a WeTHRIVE! Community Champion. I’m sure this wasn’t an easy choice, knowing that there are many community champions who work endlessly to ensure that their community and surrounding areas are fully supported and provided with quality resources.
I also want to thank the Woodlawn WeTHRIVE! Team for their hard work and support and look forward to us building more programs that meet the needs of the villagers of Woodlawn, and having a little fun too!
–Paula Sherman
Paula is described as determined, and this is evident in her work as a Champion for Health Equity in Woodlawn.
Learn about WeTHRIVE! in Woodlawn here.