Play Unplugged summer program coming to Pocatello

A new program coming to Pocatello and Chubbuck is hoping to give kids some possible activities for the summer. It’s called “Play Unplugged” and it allows kids to earn “brag badges.”

There’s a lot of different badges kids can earn – making their bed, mowing the lawn, bowling – all come with their amount of points too.

The program is being sponsored by the ELF Foundation, part of Heritage Health Servcies. Portneuf Health Trust is partnering with the foundation to make it happen.

Shannon Sudweeks, the director of the ELF Foundation, said a board member saw “Play Unplugged” in Utah and thought it would be good to bring here.

The goal is to encourage kids to step away from the television and video games and get off the couch and get active.

“We were just so excited,” Sudweeks said. “We just felt like immediately that it was exactly what we were looking for. It was going to be such a great thing. We were almost giddy about the whole thing just because we’re so excited about what the possibilities could be with this kind of a program.”

The possibilities depend on local businesses. It’s up to local businesses to participate. Those that do pick a badge and choose an activity related to that badge. Once the kids complete that activity, they can collect the badge and the points that go with it. Sudweeks said this is a way for kids to interact with the community, learn some new skills and hopefully even involve their family.

“It is a really important goal I think for our families and for our whole community to have kids be successful and to do well in all kinds of areas,” Sudweeks said.

Any business can participate. Businesses pay a $500 sponsor fee, which allows them unlimited badges for kids through the summer. Sudweeks said this program is a benefit for businesses to because it can bring a lot of foot traffic in and it’s good advertising.

Businesses who can’t accommodate the foot traffic or other reasons, but want to participate also have the option to partner with other businesses and organizations.

This is largely a fundraiser for the ELF Foundation. So part of the money made goes back to Heritage Health Services to help purchase medical equipment.

But Sudweeks said this is a great program that can benefit everyone involved.

The program is for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade. At the end of the school year, kids will be given lanyards on which they can hang all of the badges they earn all summer.

At the end of summer, Sudweeks said there will be a recognition night for the kids. Those who have acquired the most points will be eligible for a drawing for a large prize. Sudweeks said they are hoping to get some great prizes donated as well.

Sudweeks said so far support for the program has been great. She said the school district, City of Chubbuck and several others are already on board. She said the foundation has high hopes for the success of it.

“We think that this program is going to be great,” Sudweeks said. “We’re very optimistic – optimistic enough that we’re trying to see what we could do the next year and the next year to even make it better.”

Sudweeks said there are about 6,500 kids in the Pocatello/Chubbuck area that would be eligible to participate and hopes to see a large number of those do it.

More information about “Play Unplugged” can be found on its website.

Those interested in sponsoring can go here for more information and a list of available badges. Suggested activities are listed as well, but businesses do not have to use that activity.