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Make every time you’re active count for charity.

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Find yourself in a healthier state.

Motivate The First State puts the power of healthy living to work for the greater good of Delaware communities, organizations and people. 

When people log healthy activities into an online community powered by Plus3, they earn points, called kudos.  Because of generous corporate and foundational philanthropy, as kudos are earned, money moves to select Delaware nonprofits.

To learn more about the history of Motivate the First State, click here.

How It Works

1. Connect
Create a profile on the Plus 3 online wellness portal. Log in anytime to see what your neighbors from around the state are doing to boost their wellness.
2. Get Active
Take a walk. Ride your bike. Go for a jog. Or participate in dozens of other healthy activities.
3. Track Your Progress
Log onto the portal and record your accomplishments. Select from pre-set activity descriptions or upload data from your Garmin, Fitbit, smartphone, or GPS unit. Download Plus3’s Free Apps

4. Donate to a great cause.
The points ("kudos") you earn for each activity convert into cash donations for charity. You can select from one of seven Delaware charities to put your sweat equity towards!

Nonprofit Partners

  • Boys and Girls Clubs
  • Fellowship of Christian Athletes
  • Siegel JCC Delaware
  • Special Olympics
  • Urban Promise
  • YMCA
  • Young Life

"Together we can log one million miles and make each step, and each pedal stroke, count for Delaware charities that help our kids, our families and our citizens with special needs."

Former DE Governor, Healthy Living Advocate Jack Markell

Why wait? The sooner you get moving, the more good you’ll do.

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History of Motivate the First State

In 2014, former Delaware Governor Jack Markell wanted to challenge the people of Delaware to increase walking and bicycling over a given year and have a way to measure the cumulative distance moved.  One challenge to achieving that ambitious and worthwhile goal was identifying an easy mechanism for measuring success that could be utilized easily across the various populations of Delaware.  The Governor’s Council on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, in partnership with the Delaware Division of Public Health, was tasked with finding a solution.  Based on previous experience with the online community Plus3, a health activity tracking social network, the Governor’s Council elected to implement the platform to engage participants and measure their success.  With that decision, the Motivate The First State campaign was conceived.

The campaign was launched in June 2015, and through year end, the concept attracted other partners who were energized by the idea of Motivate The First State. The goal of engaging individuals to log their walking, biking and other physical activities and measure their cumulative success through a centralized platform was achieved.  In addition, many enthused participants logged numerous other healthy behaviors, such as eating fruits and vegetables, drinking more water, and performing volunteer time.

In 2016, the campaign continued to gain momentum with the addition of new sponsors and four new nonprofit partners. Participants can now choose from seven local Delaware charities, and decide which one they want to help support with the funds they earn.

During the summer of 2017, Jack Markell is riding his bike 3,650 from the Oregon coast to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware under the banner of Motivate The First State. Jack’s goal is to inspire Delawareans to get active and make their activities count for charity. You can learn more about Jacks ride here.

There are now more reasons than ever to make it count for your chosen charity every time you log an exercise or healthy behavior.

Healthy Weight and Your Child

A YMCA of DE Program

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  • Healthy Weight and Your Child empowers 7-13 year olds, with the support of their families, to reach a healthy weight and live a healthier lifestyle.
  • Healthy Weight and Your Child engages the whole family, so together they can understand how the home environment and other factors influence the choices that lead to a healthy weight. 
  • The program emphasizes three elements: healthy eating, regular physical activity and behavior change. 
  • To be eligible for the program, each child must be between the ages of 7 and 13, have a body mass index greater than or equal to the 95th percentile, be cleared by a medical provider, and accompanied by a parent or caregiver at every session.
  • Research on the program model has shown statistically significant reductions in body mass index, waist circumference, sedentary activities and improvements in physical activity and self- esteem at 6 months, also sustained at 12 months.

Healthy Athletes

A Special Olympics DE Program

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The mission of the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Program is to improve, through better health and fitness, each athlete’s ability to train and compete in Special Olympics.

The four core components of the Healthy Athletes Program are offered at Summer Games and include screenings, health education, activities and/or personal and preventive products to enhance the sports training and, ultimately, the lives of all athletes.

The components are:

  • Fit Feet
  • Healthy Hearing
  • Opening Eyes
  • Special Smiles

Triple Play

A Boys & Girls Clubs of DE Program

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Triple Play is a dynamic wellness program currently offered in Boys & Girls Clubs that demonstrates how eating right, keeping fit and forming positive relationships add up to a healthy lifestyle. The goal of the Triple Play program is to improve Club members’ knowledge of healthy habits; increase the number of hours per day they participate in physical activities; and strengthen their ability to interact positively with others and engage in positive relationships.

Urban Trekkers

An Urban Promise of Wilmington Program

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UrbanTrekkers is an integral program of UrbanPromise that engages children and teens from Wilmington in experiential learning. From hiking to visiting museums and working farms, rock-climbing, gardening, biking, and canoeing, Trekkers provides unique opportunities to build community and channel social capital, teaching the value of hard work and perseverance, while building an appreciation for the outdoors and healthy lifestyles. Trips and activities challenge our students, build powerful relationships, and are a great catalyst for transformation. While students benefit from tutoring and mentoring, they regularly cite Trekkers trips as being key to their personal transformation. Climbing a mountain literally builds confidence and instills vision.

Camp Scholarships

A Young Life of Delaware Program

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Money earned through Motivate the First State will go toward scholarships to send kids to Young Life Camp. In Young Life, we advertise camp as, "The Best Week of Your Life, Guaranteed." Young Life camp is a place where kids can go away and be themselves while experiencing the jaw-dropping fun of a ropes course, zip-line, water tubing, giant water slides, and more. It's at Young Life camp where kids can build genuine relationships with their peers, have meaningful conversations with their Young Life leaders, and listen to what we believe is the great love story ever told.

Wellness and Family Events

A Siegel Jewish Community Center Program

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The Siegel JCC is committed creating new and exciting ways to fulfill the health, wellness, and recreation needs of our members. Our Senior Center hopes to expand the number of group exercise classes offered to help our seniors engage socially and better retain their independence at home. To help get our members excited about exercising and reach their goals in a fun way, our fitness team is creating some health-improvement programs like the Biggest Loser.  Additionally, we’ll be offering some brand new family fitness events like the Spring into Fitness 5k, family sports tournaments, and pickleball. Thank you for your support of our healthy programs!

Developing 3D Leaders

A Fellowship of Christian Athletes Program

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Often, when we watch sport we are drawn to only observe the physical talents of those who are playing the game. We see their speed, power, explosiveness, and ability to control their bodies to accomplish whatever goal is before them. The physical side of sport is important, but we believe that it is just the starting line to building whole athletes and coaches. Delaware FCA is looking to invest in student athletes, coaches, and volunteers to see them develop into three dimensional (3D: Body, Mind, and Heart/Soul) leaders. Our desire is to equip them to aspire to be great in all three dimensions through Huddles, Camps, Training, and Resources. As you work to become whole through logging your health activities you will help us to provide leadership packs for huddles, camp scholarships, and materials for leadership trainings across the state.