Are you ready for a health-boosting summer adventure? Join the Get Outdoors (GO!) Scavenger Hunt starting June 1 in south-central Pennsylvania.
Now in its 17th year, the Get Outdoors (GO!) program is a collaborative project between WellSpan Health and local libraries, designed to encourage community members of all ages to explore the beauty of local parks and trails while engaging in intellectual activity at the same time.
The program will begin June 1 in six counties – Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York – and will end in August, with end dates varying by county.
This year’s theme, “Adventures Begin in the Library,” emphasizes the importance of reading and mental health and integrates these elements with the physical activity of a treasure hunt.
“GO! is an engaging activity that can be enjoyed by people of all ages,” said Sandra Gladfelter, Health Education Coordinator Lead for WellSpan Health. “Mental health is critical and shouldn’t be thought of separately from physical health – they’re all interconnected. When our mental and emotional health is optimized, we can more easily handle life’s challenges. As the GO! program continues to grow and evolve, it remains a beacon of health, wellness and engagement for the South Central Pennsylvania community, proving that sometimes adventures start at the library.”
How GO! works
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Visit your local library to pick up a guidebook (called an itinerary) to find hidden wooden pillars (called portals) in various locations throughout Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York Counties, as well as rubbing sheets to record your finds.
- Each post features a unique etching, and participants can log into a digital app called Beanstack to receive credit for their discoveries and become eligible to win prizes when the program ends in August.
- GO! Share your hunt photos and provide tips through the program’s county-specific Facebook pages.
- For county-specific information, visit your county’s GO! program website. Each GO! website has directions to the parks, information about prizes, tips for finding the wooden posts, and more. You can also download guidebooks from each GO! website.
- To increase accessibility to GO! programs, several parks and trails have been made wheelchair and stroller accessible, including an urban trail installed near Keystone Kidsspace in York.
The GO! program is funded in part through WellSpan Health’s Community Partnership Grants Program. Grants are awarded to nonprofit organizations that improve the health of the communities and people WellSpan serves.
To learn more about WellSpan’s Community Partnership Grants and other ways WellSpan fosters healthy communities, visit WellSpan.org/CommunityBenefit.
