Meltdown money helps 'Have a Ball'
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Officials from St. Dominic present a $3,000 check to Wilson and Hartwell Furr, founders of Just Have a Ball.
More than $3,000 in proceeds from the second annual Magnolia Meltdown, a 5K run/walk sponsored by St. Dominic Hospital and Jackson Heart Clinic, were presented to Just Have a Ball, a nonprofit founded by 10-year-old Wilson Furr and his sister Hartwell, 7, of Jackson.
This donation will allow additional balls to be purchased and help fund literature that encourages parents to play outdoors with their children.
What began as a son’s gratitude for a mother that modeled a healthy lifestyle has evolved into an event spotlighting the health risks poor childhood exercise and dietary habits can create for adults.
Dr. Richard Guynes, a cardiologist with Jackson Heart Clinic, one of the presenting sponsors of the Magnolia Meltdown, along with St. Dominic’s and Jackson Pulmonary Associates, credits his late mother Sherry Guynes with instilling a love of exercise.This early training from a parent he describes as an avid athlete shaped his personal health habits and paved the way for a medical career in which he treats patients with cardiac disease.
Guynes said that in many cases, his patients’ health problems stem from unhealthy childhood diet and exercise patterns.
“Obesity undermines just about every health problem and has no boundaries in terms of age or medical diagnosis,” said Guynes, one of Magnolia Meltdown’s organizers. “If we can stem the rise of obesity early on, it will do so much to prevent many of the serious diseases adults often face.”
The two Jackson Academy elementary students came up with the idea of giving a free ball to every school child in the state to encourage physical fitness in the form of outdoor games. The goal of their initial plan was simple: “They wanted every child to be healthy and ‘just have a ball’ at the same time,” said their mother, Denise Furr.
More than 5,100 footballs, soccer, playground and volleyballs have been distributed since January, Furr said. More than $500,000 is needed to complete her children’s goal of providing a new ball to every elementary student in Mississippi.
