Central Queensland University’s Office of Research are keen to get moving after receiving a small slice of $30,000 offered through the 10,000 Steps’ Community Initiatives Grant Scheme.

The office received $360 to purchase nine pedometers for its staff who now are spending one hour a week exercising as a group.

“We applied for the grant through the Community Initiatives Grant Scheme and received advice in mid-January that we were successful,” Research Training and Projects Officer Dearne Mayer said.

Staff participating are: Sue Evans, Dearne Mayer, Jenny Brett, Vicki Roberts, Maureen Hill, Leslie Walker, Janet Stainkey, Brooke Toon and Megan Barrett.

“Once a week staff will participate in a group activity for an hour, such as going for a walk along the riverfront,” Ms Mayer said.

“At our Strategic Planning afternoon late last year the whole office agreed to the office manager’s suggestion of a shared wellness program.

“And upon seeing the ad for the grants in the local paper, thought the 10,000 Steps program would be beneficial to our office.

As the group only received their pedometers late last week they could not give an accurate report on their steps, however they have increased their physical activity.

“Reaching 10,000 steps plus is our goal and we will be keeping an office record of our daily and weekly steps,” Ms Mayer said.

Administration officer Brooke Toon said it was interesting to discover how few steps she actually did in a day, but was keen to put the effort in to increase the statistics.

“If you honestly make an effort, such as taking the stairs instead of the lift, the steps quickly add up\".

$30,000 has been dispersed to 14 community groups and organisations participating in the 10,000 Steps’ Community Initiatives Grant Scheme. The money has been injected into Rockhampton for the development of physical activity programs.

“This is the first financial incentive of this type in Rockhampton and Queensland. It is so successful -- we exhausted resources -- that we have planned another round of new funding for the middle of this year,” stated Glenn Austin, 10,000 Steps Project Officer at CQU.

Under the program Rockhampton residents applied for small initiatives ($100 - $1, 000) or large initiatives ($1,000 upwards). The only criteria were that funds had to be spent on projects that would encourage and develop various forms of physical activity.

Photo: Sue Evans, Megan Barrett, Vicki Roberts and Dearne Mayer kick off their weekly exercise routine to increase their step count.