Celebrate Recreation and Parks Month in July: now is the time to spread the message of parks and recreation.

NRPA's celebration of "July is Recreation and Parks Month" is in its 10th year. NRPA's own tagline, "Healthy Lifestyles, Livable Communities ... It Starts in Parks" speaks to the breadth of benefits that parks and recreation deliver, and we encourage you to use this theme in your programming content and publicity.

The premise of July Is Recreation and Parks Month hasn't changed since it was first established to help celebrate our positive impact on the quality of life.

Our country celebrates its July Fourth Independence Day in communities throughout the country involving millions of people. In most cases, local, regional, state and national parks are the desired venues for these celebrations, with park and recreation departments partnering with service clubs, businesses, schools and non-profit organizations to sponsor special events.

Recreation and parks have a high profile in planning and conducting these events. While celebrating, we should also take the time to encourage those involved to realize how important parks and recreation are to the quality of life.

July also highlights "National Therapeutic Recreation Week" July 11-17, which is meant to increase awareness of therapeutic recreation programs and services, and expand leisure and recreation opportunities for individuals with disabilities in the local community. This designation was established by tire National Therapeutic Recreation Society (NTRS), and has been celebrated during the second week of July every year since 1984. This year; NTRS continues to emphasize and highlight as its theme the "Benefits of Therapeutic Recreation and the Value of Leisure, Recreation and Play" as part of a healthy lifestyle for all individuals. During the nation wide celebration, we encourage agencies and individuals to host health fairs, career days, festivals, wheelchair athletic events, workshops, receptions, informations booths and open houses.

Immediately after National Therapeutic Recreation Week, National Aquatics Week takes the spotlight during a celebration from July 18-24. More than 200,000 pools are managed, owned and operated by NRPA members or communicaties and professionals who have the opportunity to become an NRPA member. In response to the cry for better trained aquatic managers, NRPA embarked on creating an aquatics section, now a branch within the association. This branch helps provide an annual National Aquatics Management School, National Aquatics Conference, Aquatic Facility Operator Certification as well as publications and awards. This week celebrates the successes of aquatics recreation and we urge you to use this awareness opportunity to emphasize the importance of aquatics in your community.

Our recreation program offerings and park usage most likely reach their peak in the summer months. Park and recreation departments employ hundreds of thousands of seasonal workers, which makes summer an ideal time for directors and supervisors to introduce these part-time workers to the value and benefits of recreation and parks. We have access to a dedicated group of employees who can be better positioned to "move our message" about tire benefits of parks and recreation. I encourage you to use materials from the NRPA Web site to educate your full-time and seasonal part-time staff, and promote the value of membership in their state associations and NRPA.

But July is only one of 12 months a year where we have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of all individuals. The values we hold and the mission we serve are important to achieving our desired outcomes. The public needs to know what we do and why we do it. Each member, citizen or professional, is an ambassador for our field, carrying the banner for the benefits of parks and recreation.