After three years of helping people cash in on weight loss, Fremont Regional Wellness is in the running for a statewide award.

The organization, which promotes health in Fremont County’s 13 schools and the community, was selected as a top five finalist for the Weigh and Win Outstanding Partner in Health Award.

Weigh and Win, a Colorado program funded by Kaiser Permanente, helps adults track weight loss with the help of kiosks set up in communities across the state. The program also provides health resources and awards cash prizes to participants who have a body mass index of more than 25 percent.

“It will not only pay you for losing weight, but you get health points for maintaining a healthy weight and great prizes, incentives,” said Kristi Elliott, the regional wellness coordinator.

The award winner is set to be announced Sept. 13 at the third annual Weigh and Win Conference in Denver, Elliott said.

On Tuesday, local participants had a chance to reflect on their success. Representatives from Weigh and Win were at the Cañon City Area Recreation and Park District headquarters to shoot a promotional video ahead of the upcoming conference. There, they interviewed people who have benefitted from the program.

“(It’s) good for people who aren’t sure about what to eat, what to do,” said Shari Fontenot, a paraprofessional at Harrison K-8 School who added that she has maintained weight loss and a healthy lifestyle.

Elliott said the video, which will be shown at the conference, will help the group promote the program, which originally was introduced to the wellness group in 2014.

After getting a grant through Kaiser, Elliott said, her team placed a weigh-in kiosk at the Cañon City Area Recreation and Park District headquarters and later, purchased a mobile kiosk.

For Sarah Ley, a Fremont Regional Wellness specialist, that meant putting in the work to transport the kiosk to community partners and schools, including Harrison, where Fontenot works.

“For three years, she would wheel it every week to new partners and it collects the weight on individuals who weigh in,” Elliott said. “Sarah would get that mobile kiosk and physically take it to every school in Fremont County so that staff members could get involved by weighing in.”

With the help of wireless scales, though, Elliott said those days are almost over. The organization plans to set up a scale at every school in Fremont County.

For more information about the program, visit weighandwin.com.

Sara Knuth: 719-276-7644, [email protected]