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Brightgeist Media Announces Launch of New Bariatric and Weight Loss Website SkinnyWishes.com Connecting Consumers in Search of Professional Treatment

Skinny Wishes to Donate Portion of Doctor Enlistment Online Fee to Non-Profit Organization Louie’s Kids to Help Fight Childhood Obesity

September 22, 2009 New York, NY – Brightgeist Media Inc., a leader in performance advertising, today announced the launch of SkinnyWishes.com, a bariatric and weight loss website designed to bring consumers in search of professional treatment and physicians together in one intuitive, user-friendly platform. The new website builds on the success of Brightgeist’s current online advertising solution and is among the first services of its kind to specifically address the needs of both the consumer and service providers within the bariatric and weight loss community.

In addition, as part of its corporate mission to help fight obesity, Skinny Wishes will donate a percentage of its doctor enlistment online fee to Louie’s Kids, a nonprofit organization that helps to treat childhood obesity on behalf of economically disadvantaged children nationwide.

SkinnyWishes.com provides an efficient life cycle “roadmap” to help guide individuals searching for professional bariatric and weight loss information in the appropriate direction of a healthier lifestyle. The site features a directory of physicians, weight loss seminars in local regions, and an “Experts Forum” which is an interactive community of physicians, nurses and nutritionists who answer readers’ questions and share their insight on issues and topics related to obesity, weight loss and nutrition. The Forum’s Q&A segment can be followed on Twitter.

In the coming months, SkinnyWishes.com will be introducing new site features including additional professional directories enlisting nutritionists and non-surgical based weight loss clinics; weight loss programs and post maintenance solutions; a comprehensive Spanish- language section; and customizable pages populated with additional user defined bariatric and weight loss content.

“SkinnyWishes.com is committed to connecting consumers searching for bariatric and weight loss solutions with doctors and surgeons by leveraging our network of high quality traffic and content in order to offer a more measurable and meaningful alternative than cluttered online directories,” states chief executive officer of Brightgeist Media Marcela Shine. “Our corporate mission is to arm individuals with the proper knowledge and tools so that they, in turn, can find the service professional that will guide them to a healthier lifestyle. We are pleased that part of the doctors’ enlistment fees will be donated to Louie’s Kids to help fight children’s obesity in the U.S.”

For more information about SkinnyWishes.com or if you are a doctor or service professional who would like to be listed on the site, please visit http://www.skinnywishes.com/signup.

About SkinnyWishes.com

SkinnyWishes.com is a leading bariatric and weight loss site that connects individuals seeking weight loss treatment to service professionals. Our platform delivers the tools necessary to make  this connection more meaningful and efficient. SkinnyWishes.com is owned by Brightgeist Media, a leader in performance advertising since 2004.

About Brightgeist Media, Inc.

Brightgeist Media, a leader in performance advertising, connects consumers to the right service professionals through relevant information and compelling content. Our vision is to optimize the quality of this connection efficiently using our network of high quality traffic and lead generation.

Since 2004, Brightgeist Media has been a leader in property based lead generation and is a publisher of high quality networks including financial, health and legal. The company started as a supplier of financial leads and has since expanded into multiple channels and media. Brightgeist Media is headquartered in New York City.

Hey everybody! It’s Bucky here and I’ve got an update for you for our John’s Island launch of Fit Club. It has really been amazing out on John’s Island. The staff at Haut Gap has really been amazing! They are extremely supportive not only for our program, but to many others that are also at the middle school.  Right now, everyone is working tirelessly to bring everything we can to our kids out there.  So far this Fit Club we’ve really increased our fitness component.  We’ve already done karate, a little football, and some serious cardiovascular activities.  Two weeks ago, we also had a visit from Brooke Kotcella and Tony White Jr. from the College of Charleston’s Mens and Womens Basketball Teams.  They helped us put on a mini clinic for our kids.  It was a great day and we end that day with a basketball signing!

We also had our first trip to the pool.  We brought 15 kids off of John’s Island and into the city.  Over half the kids have never seen a pool before and almost all of the kids have never swam before!  It was so exciting for me to beable to share a part of my life with these kids that day.  I’ve included a photo from the pool visit and there are more on my facebook page and you can click here to see them.  By the end of the hour, we had all the kids swimming by themselves.  As always we’re only as good as the good people we surround ourselves with, and that day we had some amazing volunteers (all former collegiate swimmers) to lend a helping hand.

What is upcoming for Fit Club??  Well, we’ve got less than 10 weeks left and already we’ve lost over 60 pounds collectively.  The next 9 weeks will really be an adventure.  We’ve got the TrySports’ van coming out to John’s Island to outfit the kids is state of the art athletic shoes.  We’ve got a few more guest fitness instructors coming soon including yoga and volleyball.  The Yoga Marathon at Marion Square is happening on the tenth of October from 12-3, and we’ll have some of the kids out there participating.  There’s a great Halloween run happening on October 24 to support Louie’s Kids and we’ll be out there running the race with everybody else!

As you can see we are busy, and we do not have plans to slow down.  We can always use a helping hand so if you’re interested please connect with us using the volunteer button.  Please stay tuned and keep your eyes on the look out for us.

Thanks!!

Big Chef/ Little Chef

Well first, let me start by saying thank you to everyone who continues to support us here at Louie’s Kids.  This summer has been unbelievable for us.  It is hard to believe the school is only a few days away now.  This summer, we continued to have our Saturday activities and it has been great out at Mitchell Elementary.  We’ve done a lot walking, swimming, some water aerobics, some yoga, self defense, and even a little conquering of the bridge.  We’ve had a few great fundraisers this summer too starting with being apart of a display at the Civic Design Center with some other local non-Profits.   As part of this display, we were given the opportunity to use the Civic Design as we saw fit.  So Louie’s Kids held a magical event there known as Big Chef/ Little Chef.  We matched up Charleston’s Best Chef with four of our participants.  It was so amazing watching all the action unfold.

We also competed in the Daniel Island Kids Triathlon.  We had three of our Fit Clubbers out there who trained in all three areas of swimming, biking, and running.  Not only did we compete, but we ended up having one of our Fit Clubbers take home a third place finish in her age group.  That was a great surprise for us that day!  A special thanks goes out to TrySports.

Looking ahead we’ve got a lot going on.  First, is our upcoming launch at Haut Gap Middle School out on John’s Island.  We’ve been preparing for this one all summer long.  Next we’ve got some big fundraisers coming up including the Yoga Marathon and a Halloween fun run.  Keep your eyes on the look out as we prepare and get things moving forward with all this stuff.  It’s going to be a great upcoming year for us here at Louie’s Kids.  We can’t thank you enough to all who continue to support us not only financially but all those who send us encourage hope and prayers.  We’re continuing to spread our message and we are always looking for volunteers who are as passionate as we are.

We’ve also been blessed by Charleston Magazine and they recently published a profile in support of Louie’s Kids.  What a wonderful honor once again reminding us how blessed we really are!.  The link can be found here.  Also check out the PGA link on our home page.

Stay tuned for more.  We’re only getting started as this school year approaches.

-Bucky

Big Chef Little Chef Challenge

Taste what some of Charlestons best chefs and Louies Kids FitClub participants whip up for an Iron Chef competition like no other.

When: Thursday August 6, 2009. 6:30-9:00pm.

Where: Civic Design Center, 85 Calhoun St, Charleston SC

$35.00 in advance
$40.00 @ the door
email louis@louieskids.org to purchase tickets

Join us for cooking challenge to benefit Louie’s Kids and the fight against obesity.

Click here to download the PDF (250kb)

Hi Everyone,

We’ve got another big weekend planned.  I’on is planning a fitness expo with a swim-a-thon and a 5hour spinning marathon all to benefit Louie’s Kids!!

Please come on out and join us.  It’s this Saturday, May 9th.  It’s another all day event so bring a friend and a smile.. and maybe  some sunscreen!  Check out the link here

Thanks and we look forward to seeing you there,

Bucky

Hey Everyone!!

This Saturday, April 4th, keep your eyes on the look out for Louie’s Kids.  We’re going to have a group of our kids plus a few tag alongs walking the bridge together for the Bridge Run.  We’re all very excited about this race.  We’ve been training hard over the past several weeks getting ready for this 10k.  Just like many of the other participants we plan on not just walking the Bridge Run but also jogging through parts of it.

It’s hard to imagine, but a few of our kids finally got on the bridge for the first time three weeks ago.  It was such an emotional moment for us all.

A very special thanks needs to go out to Jerry Scheer who is helping us organize an overnight with all of our participants so that we can have them all together for the walk/run.

We’ll be getting pictures up soon for all to see.  Thanks and stayed tuned.

-Bucky

Hey All!

Hope everyone is doing as good as we are at Fit Club.  The last few weeks have just been so exciting.  So much has been going on.  Recently, we had a level ceremony reward at the bowling alley, a pro-football player stopped by to give us all some advice on being healthy, and we had a visit by a portable rock wall.

We’ll start with the level reward ceremony at the bowling alley.  We had 6 kids go out to the alley with us.  We had 7 that advanced but 1 had a basketball game.  Talk about a lot of fun.  The girls were screaming and dancing and our two boys were trying to trying to keep up with the girls.  It was such a great time.  Louis was able to show his expert bowling skills.  Who knew it was his hidden talent.

Next, pro-football player ,Ove Mughelli of the Atlanta Falcons came and spent some time with our kids in a recent Fit Club session.  He was such a great inspiration to our kids.  He came in a did a quick description of himself and shared with the kids a bit of his personal story.  It’s so important that anytime we bring in a guest or even a staff member to talk with our kids that they can relate with our kids.  To be able to share a bit of themselves goes a long way with our kids.  He did a wonderful job telling the kids his personal journey, and the kids really seemed to grasp all that he had to say.  He also did a question and answer session at the end of his talk.  It was great to see all the kids so excited and asking him questions about his life and career.  We even got a great group shot with him at the end.

And last but not least, we were so thankful to have the rock wall come visit us again.  It was so amazing to hear and see our kids get up that wall.  The best part is that everyone had the right attitude about getting up that wall.  They all walked in that day telling me about how they are going to get “to the top” of the wall.  It was such a powerful experience for us all that day.

One final note.  The kids are all on their way to earning their shoes.  It feels like every sessions there is one child taking home their shoes.  It is so great to see them set goals and achieve them.  You can really see it in their eyes when they tell you that they will be taking home their shoes today

I’ve said it before and I will never stop saying it.  Thank you to everyone involved in making all this possible.  The kids are succeeding.  They are having fun, and they are still coming.  Our village is strong.

Join us Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 9:00am at the Bulow Landing off Davidson Road for the Wholly Cow Ice Cream & Coffee Ride. Celebrating 25 years & Benefiting the Louies Kids Organization. Wholly Cow Ice Cream & Coffee Ride

Hey Everyone!

This is Katie Ricks.  I am a senior at the College of Charleston and volunteered during the first half of the current Fit Club launch.  I have recently taken the position of running the physical activity.  At this point the staff and I are really focusing on continuing strong in the latter half of the program.  

Last week the kids in Fit Club got to experience a variety of new activities which implemented team work and numerous movements.  During the physical activity portion they were encouraged to continue moving at whatever pace they were comfortable.  My goal is to teach them a variety of movements so they can walk away from the program understanding that exercise comes in many forms and is what you make it!  The most popular activities, however, seemed to be the games ‘Simon Says’ and ‘Red light/Green light’; oldies but goodies.

I felt a great sense of joy while talking to a few of the students last week.  I asked several kids how they have changed from before they joined Fit Club to now.  One student reported she had had nonfat yogurt instead of cake at her cousin’s birthday party.  Another responded that she bought snack bars with fiber in them (the same ones we distribute during Fit Club), and was eating more fruit.  One of the boys responded that he could run faster now.  Though these may be little victories, they are huge steps for the kids!    

Although many of the Fit Club members have already made great progress, the staff and I continually strive to motivate and encourage each of them to keep working towards their goals.  In the upcoming weeks we have several activities planned and are excited to provide new opportunities!