Page 81 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2024

GIVING BACK
story by Lynn Lofton
photos courtesy of Let’s Go! Gulf Coast
Let’s Go! Gulf Coast is an established nonprofit organization serving the Mississippi Gulf Coast for ten years. They’re all about healthy eating and active living for children, their families, and their communities. Over the past few years, the organization has been working to develop a new initiative that aims to increase physical activity levels among children, youth, and adults.
It encourages the use of parks and green spaces along with improving access. The goal is to reduce the rate of obesity on the Coast.
“We’ve worked diligently to develop our app that maps out all outdoor recreational spaces in the coastal counties,” says Executive Director Dr. Kelsey Keel. “The app provides easily accessible and up-to-date information on local parks and green
Let’s Go! Gulf Coast
228.678.7447 www.letsgogulfcoast.org
spaces, while creating a fun and interactive way for local residents to engage with these spaces on a social level.”
The app allows users to search for playgrounds, splash pads, boat and kayak launches, dog parks, baseball fields, pickleball courts, strength equipment, and more. Their team has even catalogued specific features and amenities they feel would be important for families and individuals to know when planning visits, such as parking, ADA accessibility, lighting, restrooms, grills and fire pits, picnic tables, shade, and dog-friendly.
The Let’s Go! EXPLORE Gulf Coast app is free to download on both iPhone and Android smartphones, with many more features to explore making it an easy-to-use resource. “We’ve catalogued over 200 parks with more still to come,” Keel said. “We’re building out a community calendar and users can collect unique passport stamps at each park they visit. We’re very excited about this unique project and cannot wait to watch it grow.”
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