LEWISTON — Healthy Androscoggin has welcomed Van Beckman to the team to help coordinate implementation of the new Let’s Go! Androscoggin initiative.

Beckman’s position is sponsored by the AmeriCorps*VISTA program via the Maine Commission for Community Service, and he joins Healthy Androscoggin for his third term of national service as a VISTA.

His first two were undertaken in northwestern Wyoming, where he helped recruit and train emergency response volunteers and spearheaded fundraising efforts for a community garden project with local chapters of Citizen Corps and Big Brothers Big Sisters, respectively. A native of western Massachusetts, Beckman earned his bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College in 2006.

“It brings me great joy to become both part of the Healthy Androscoggin team and a new resident of Androscoggin County. I’m thrilled about getting to know this community better and helping bring the amazing Let’s Go! program to Androscoggin County in full force,” he said.

Let’s Go! is a community-based initiative, started in the Portland area, to promote healthy lifestyle choices for children, youth and families. As a nationally recognized childhood obesity prevention program, its goal is to increase physical activity and healthy eating for children from birth to age 18.

The message is “5-2-1-0 Every Day,” which means five fruits and vegetables a day, two hours or less of recreational screen time, an hour or more of physical activity and no sugary drinks.

Healthy Androscoggin and a variety of community partners are bringing Let’s Go! to Androscoggin County in an effort called Let’s Go! Androscoggin. These partners include St. Mary’s and Central Maine Medical Center, Androscoggin Head Start and Childcare, the United Way of Androscoggin County, Boys and Girls Club, YWCA of Central Maine, Auburn-Lewiston YMCA, the Maine Commission for Community Service and the Corp. for National and Community Service.

Let’s Go! Androscoggin will bring the model to schools, child cares, after-school programs and health care providers through community-wide partnerships across Androscoggin County. These efforts are sponsored in part by United Way of Androscoggin County. To find out more, contact Beckman at 330-7882 or [email protected] or visit www.letsgo.org.

For more information about Healthy Androscoggin, visit www.healthyandroscoggin.org.