Marie Navarro, B.A. Comm., SISIP FS Communications Coordinator

SISIP Financial Services (SISIP FS), in partnership with CANEX, are always eager to support initiatives aimed at encouraging/fostering a healthy lifestyle within the Canadian Forces, as we have since 2003 with the March 1^st I Quit program. We are therefore pleased to announce the expansion of our support to include the other campaigns run by the Canadian Forces Health Services (CFHS). As such, SISIP FS and CANEX will also be funding, promoting and providing prizes to the following:

1 - Vegetable and Fruit Strategy ($2,000 per year); this fall campaign, which in 2011 ran from 21 September to 4 October, features the 4 &3 or more per day Challenge, uses an online tracker designed to encourage participants to meet their target of 4 vegetable and 3 fruit servings or more per day. Our SISIP FS Communications and Marketing Manager, Joyce Sharp was on hand to help present the prizes at the National Ceremony on October 20, 2011, after which the group stayed on for some laughs and healthy snacks. All prizes were awarded based on completion of the 2 week Vegetable and Fruit on line tracker and post-campaign questionnaire. While there were 14 winners this year in Ottawa, the big winners were Cpl Chelsey Hutson and Pte Jennifer Nesbitt who each won a Cuisinart Processor. In total, we provided 90 prizes for this campaign: 30 Cuisinart mini choppers, 30 Cusinart knife sets and 30 cutting board sets. Congratulations to all!

- Photo by MCpl Serge Tremblay – from left to right – Joyce Sharp, SISIP FS Communications and Marketing Manager, Cpl Chelsey Hutson, Pte Jennifer Nesbitt and Justine Espanant, Health Promotion Manager, Ottawa

2 - Addictions Awareness Campaign ($2,000 per year); this challenge, which this year ran from November 12-26, 2011, features daily online questions on what you really know about alcohol, other drugs, gambling and addictions, with daily prizes. Congratulations to Laura Tripp of Borden, winner of one of the National Prizes awarded for her participation in this campaign; the prize of an iPod Shuffle was presented to Sgt. Vince Tripp on her behalf. The presentation took place on December 14 in the CANEX Plaza. Thank you to all who participated in this online campaign and congratulations to the winners.

- From left to right in the photo – Lois Leiher, SISIP FS Branch Manager; Sgt Vince Tripp; John Hare, CANEX Manager and Nathaniel Smith, Health Promotion Manager

3 - CF Health and Wellness Challenge ($3,000): This campaign is still in development and will be launched in 2012.

We will of course continue supporting the March 1^st I Quit campaign ($15,000 per year, combined funding CANEX / SISIP FS) which runs every year from March 1^st to March 31^st, and is intended for all who wish to participate, whether a CF member or not.

The staff at all our SISIP FS and CANEX locations on the bases, will be participating and working together with their local Health Promotion Office in the promotion of these campaigns, providing specific information, brochures, etc for each one of these campaigns as they draw near.

For more information please visit:

http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/ps/hpp-pps/nw-mn/vf-lf/vf-lf-eng.asp http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/ps/hpp-pps/aap-sdp/aawc-sst/default-eng.asp http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/iquit-jarrete/default-eng.asp