BUCHANAN — While it may sound hard to believe, exercising every day can be fun — at least that’s what physical education teacher Jessica Leenhouts hopes to teach her students at Moccasin Elementary School.

Leehouts wanted to further emphasize this lesson during a community event focused on being healthy. The Community Health and Wellness Expo will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 2 at the school, 401 Moccasin St. in Buchanan.

The event is free and open to the public. Those who attend can visit multiple community partner booths. People can take part in activities like Zumba, cardio drumming, yoga and test their skills on a climbing wall. There will also be free vision testing.

There will also be a silent auction to help raise money to replace the school’s playground equipment. A few of the auction items include gift cards from local restaurants, bicycles, stand in mixer, a one-hour massage and even a free set of braces, to name a few.

Leenhouts said that the school hosted its first Health and Wellness Expo about two years ago, which brought in about 290 participants.

“We decided to do it again and bring awareness to our families about health and wellness,” Leenhouts said.

With a variety of exercise events and demonstrations, Leenhouts said she hopes the expo helps to serve as an example to youth and the community that there are a variety of ways to stay active. While youth may get their exercise by participating in sports, Leenhouts said there are plenty of other ways to get engaged in fitness. She said students were introduced to activities like cardio drumming and enjoyed it.

“Those are like lifetime activities,” she said. “Things you are going to have to do your whole life to stay healthy. Cardio drumming, Zumba, yoga those are things that kids need to know [exist] as they grow up.”

Leenhouts said participating community partners will also seek to emphasize that being healthy is not just about being fit.

“There’s physical wellness, which is working out and there’s mental awareness with the yoga and learning how to keep healthy at home using fire and bike safety,” Leenhouts said.   

The fundraising aspect of the event also helps to support the idea that exercise can be fun, Leenhouts said. She said the school is hoping to install new pieces to the playground after a large section of outdated wooden equipment was removed. The student council has already helped to raise some funds for the project. Leenhouts also emphasized that the playground is open to the community to use in the evenings.

Leenhouts encouraged people to visit the event, support the cause and their health.

“It’s a way for these families to come in and meet some community partners and get exposure to activities like that,” Leenhouts said. “This is just a fun activity to do with your family that does not cost anything.”