In today's world the number on the scale keeps going up and the time spent outdoors seems to be nonexistent. Busy families are finding it harder to plan, prepare and cook dinners let alone worry if it is healthy.

In the effort to make healthy eating easier and more affordable SHARE Colorado and Easter Seals have teamed up for the first time and are launching a new campaign called Your Health Counts.

"The goal of this campaign is to motivate people to take an active role in reducing their risks for heart disease and stroke through eating healthy and being more active," said Pilar Chapa, director of communications and marketing for Easter Seals. "We want people to understand that they don't have to change their entire lifestyle overnight but by making small changes they can work toward reducing their risks in the long term."

Easter Seals came up with the Your Health Counts campaign and wanted to find an organization to partner up with that worked as closely with the community as it did.

"Several Easter Seals staff members have purchased food from SHARE and recommended that we look into partnering with them," said Chapa. "Plus, SHARE is located all over Colorado which will be a great help to us to get the word out."

Starting in January, SHARE for the first time in 17 years, will be changing its Regular Package to the Your Health Counts Classic Package. This package normally contains a variety of fresh produce, frozen meats and staple items and is changing from $20 to $25 and will include more produce and contain a healthier meat selection.

"We are so excited about this campaign," said Tiffany Papedo, marketing relations for SHARE. "Our goal has always been to offer healthy groceries at an affordable price and this package will really focus on just that."

Included in the Your Health Counts Package, SHARE and Easter Seals will also be offering recipe cards which will have health tips.

"The recipes we will be using come from Simply Colorado Cookbook, The American Heart Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services," said Papedo.

SHARE, which stands for Self Help and Resource Exchange, is a nonprofit program within the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Denver and is described as a once a month food co-op. SHARE is known for offering great food items at 30-50 percent lower than your average retail store.

"The reason we can offer the savings we do is because we purchase our food in bulk," said Papedo. "But the real savings come from our volunteers. We have over 5,000 volunteers who help us each month, without their help SHARE would not exist."

The way SHARE works is it offers a monthly menu which has four packages and between 20 and 25 ala-cart items. A participant orders and pays at the beginning of the month and then at the end of the month they pickup their order at a local SHARE host site, which is usually a church or community center in their area.

"You can order as little or as much as you like," said Papedo. "And there are no qualifications or income restrictions. We like to say if you eat you qualify."

SHARE and Easter Seals see the partnership as just the beginning of many good things to come.

"We think this is just a stepping stone for what we can do as a team," said Papedo. "We now have the Your Health Counts Package, we offer recipes along with a meal planning guide and we are still brainstorming on new ways to make it easier for everyone to get a little healthier and save some money while doing it."

For more information please visit St. Therese SHARE located at 13 th and Kingston on Jan. 14 th between 9-10 a.m. as SHARE volunteers will be on hand to take orders and answer questions. You can also go to www.sharecolorado.com for more information or call the main office 303-428-0400.

Easter Seals Your Health Counts Campaign is sponsored by the Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease and Pulmonary Disease Grants Programs at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. To contact Easter Seals call 303-233-1666 or visit www.eastersealscolorado.org.