Walking in a Winter Wonderland

By Jeff Arnold, CEO and Chairman

At Sharecare, we have a tradition in which each of our offices shares care with their local community during the holiday season, whether its our San Diego team volunteering at a soup kitchen, Vermont employees adopting a family in need or the Atlanta office assembling care packages for a homeless shelter. As we started planning for the holidays this year, we realized that – now being 800 employees strong – we had the potential to make a bigger impact than ever before, especially if we aligned our efforts across offices and could include our employees who work remotely. We worked with our partners to identify an initiative in which all of our employees could participate, regardless of geography; and – as an added bonus – gave us the option to extend beyond the holiday season.

The program we settled on is one of the coolest ways to share care I have seen: UNICEF’s Kid Power Program. While UNICEF concentrates its efforts on saving malnourished children outside of the United States, they recognized that kids here in the U.S. are also experiencing a very real health issue: obesity, largely driven by inactivity. Moreover, children—just like adults— are more motivated to move when they have a mission. With that in mind, UNICEF created the first “wearable-for-good”: the Kid Power Band, a kid-friendly activity tracker that, along with a free app, tracks steps and allows wearers to complete missions to log activity. And here’s the best part: tracked steps are converted into points that automatically purchase therapeutic food packets for malnourished children in another countries. While UNICEF Kid Power was initially designed for schools to promote fitness and global citizenship in the classroom while giving students the chance to help others, UNICEF recently announced that anyone can purchase a Kid Power band .

So, this holiday season and into the New Year, Sharecare employees across the country – from California to New York, from a home office in Phoenix to our headquarters in Atlanta – will be walking in a winter wonderland wearing UNICEF Kid Power bands, getting in their steps while helping create a healthier world. Whether you’re looking for a last minute stocking stuffer or more incentive to get moving, I encourage you to check out UNICEF Kid Power.

Happy holidays, and keep on sharing care.