Knox County, Kentucky is in Southeastern Kentucky, with limited access to physical activity and many poor health outcomes. Knox County is ranked among the least healthy counties in Kentucky. According to County Health Rankings and Health Facts, 34% of Knox County residents have access to exercise opportunities and 38% of Knox County residents are physically inactive. This has resulted in 46% of adults becoming obese in Knox County.  Obesity has been linked to several other health issues such as Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, some cancers, hypertension and arthritis/osteoporosis.  

With these health outcomes, the Knox County FCS agent established Wellness Wednesdays.  The Goal of Wellness Wednesday was to increase physical activity and access to physical activity by walking at the Knox County Extension Pavilion track each Wednesday and learning about a chronic disease each week.  Participants were also given a log and a new pedometer to track steps when they were not present.  They established a goal of 5,000 steps per day during the monthly challenge.

The target audience for Wellness Wednesdays were anyone in Knox County that were able to participate in physical activity.  Newsletters and social media posts were made to notify community members about the program.

Long-term outcomes were established such as 200 total miles walked during the month of April.  50% of participants plan to continue to walk during the summer months and Wellness Wednesdays will continue in the fall months at the extension office. Participants were able to get 5,000 steps a day during half of the challenge. 100% of participants increased their knowledge of diabetes prevention and hypertension prevention.