Members of a committed group of Innisfailians have been recognized at the provincial level for achieving an enviable and heartfelt lifestyle goal.
Nineteen members from TOPS AB 2525, the Innisfail chapter of TOPS Club, Inc., travelled to Jasper for the organization's Provincial Recognition Days (PRD), a celebration that gives special recognition to members for hard-earned weight loss accomplishments.
TOPS Club, Inc. is an international non-profit charitable corporation formed in 1948 to help overweight and obese people lose weight and to keep it off. There are TOPS chapters located worldwide but most are in Canada and the United States.
As a way to keep members, TOPS, an acronym for Take Off Pounds Sensibly, has created an incentive for those who have achieved success. They become KOPS members, an acronym for Keeps off Pounds Sensibly. This incentive comes with extra recognition as role models for other club members.
The Innisfail chapter, formed in 1977, now has 34 members – 14 of them KOPS. Lynne Cunniffe, the current leader of the local chapter, says the organization has had huge benefits for local members during its nearly 40 consecutive years in Innisfail.
“Socially it has benefited and it has made me accountable for my weight. I have learned the proper ways of losing weight,” said Cunniffe. “We've had a lot of members come in quite shy but they do come out. They begin to feel comfortable about themselves.
“There is also a lot of emotional support,” she added. “There is a strong sense of camaraderie. Everybody is really happy for other people.”
Meanwhile, at this year's Jasper PRD in May, Grace LaRiviere, the local chapter's queen, was named Alberta Provincial Queen Runner Up.
Graduating members who successfully achieved goal weights and were awarded KOPS status were LaRiviere, Bev Winsor and Karen Bradbury.
Four members – Winsor, Bradbury, Marilyn Tapley and Darlene Shiner – were honoured for having lost 40 pounds. Shiner's accomplishment was also recognized with a first-place award in her provincial division.
Looking ahead for local members, there will be a regional TOPS rally in Olds on Sept. 24. It will include members from Didsbury as well as from the new chapter in Penhold.
Any citizen, male or female, who wants to learn more about the local chapter, can attend weekly meetings on Tuesdays, from 12:15 to 2 p.m. at the Innisfail United Church.
For more information on TOPS visit the website at www.tops.org
Lynne Cunniffe, leader of Innisfail's TOPS AB 2525
"We've had a lot of members come in quite shy but they do come out. They begin to feel comfortable about themselves."
