On December 17, 2009, Tamarac celebrated its second full year of helping people improve their lives by crowning the 2009 Citizen of the Year, Scott Crandall. See Scott’s and other citizen's stories here.

Still Travelling
By Scott Crandell
My story is more like a health journey on which I am still traveling. I have always been heavy but, most recently, about a year and a half ago, I was at a point that I seriously had to look at the direction I was traveling and knew I had to change my health direction. I was 338 pounds and had been put on several medications to help control my health. I knew the path I was on was not going in the direction I wanted and would not take me to the places I wanted to be in ten to twenty years. I wanted to be here for my family down the road.
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Watch Me!
By Richard Harris
My Tamarac Story begins the summer of 2008. Tamarac and the people of Tamarac soon became a part of my daily routine. My fitness level increased, I made new friends and re-established old relationships: It was a great place to be!
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Blessed
By Doug Hoezee
Results from a chest x-ray told me I had a suspicious shadow in the area of my left lung. I was eventually told that I had a cancerous mass in my chest. No way would we have seen this coming. There was no family history and only a few years of smoking back in the 50's.
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My Running Friends
By Liz Luchies
My journey began in March 2008. My employer, Gerber Products, decided to close our onsite fitness center and provide us with memberships at Tamarac. I was an unmotivated couch potato. My days consisted of taking care of my family, but not myself. I spent most of my evenings cooking dinner and then checking out the nightly television line up. I didn’t play outside with my two sons because I didn’t have the energy too.
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Commitment
By Julie Sidlauskas
My wellness journal began when Tamarac opened in 2007. Tamarac was exactly what I needed. I’m a group exerciser. I’m not one to put in a DVD at home and do aerobics or go for a run. I hate running, but I’ll talk more about that later. I enjoy being in a room full of people where I can feel the positive energy from everyone. Group exercisers motivate each other by “hooping and hollering” or encouraging each other to push a little more.
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A Stronger Person
By Deb Thompson
I came to a point while analyzing my life and my self worth and realized I was not happy. On the outside it appeared I had what people work for their whole life for; a husband that loved me, a rewarding job, and a family that would go to the ends of the world for me. Sadly, I was still not happy. I was 38 years old and 210 pounds. It may sound shallow, but I was not happy with the way I looked. I could make others around me feel great, but when it came to people telling me how great I was, I did not believe them. All I could think was how could I be as great as everyone says when I looked the way that I did and felt the way I felt. I was tired of being tired. For years, I had put others’ best interests ahead of mine, but I came to the point where I knew I had to start making me a priority. I knew it was not going to be easy or quick, but I had to try. I started my journey to get skinny and look good; but, along the way, got healthy and developed into a stronger person.
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My Bathing Suit Story
By Jane Drake
I reached a point earlier this year where I could no longer put if off; I had to buy a bathing suit. And even worse, I was going to have to be seen wearing it in public! For the last fifteen years or so, my feelings toward wearing a bathing suit ranged from fear to loathing. With each year, as I put on more weight, I came to dislike the prospect of wearing a suit even more.
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Success
By Becky Dickerson
Wow…my success story! First of all, I never pictured being asked to share a success story. I never thought I would call myself a runner, nor would I ever think I would belong to a gym and actually use my membership. But I can and do now!
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