Town Surveying Watertown Residents About Physical Activity, Eating Habits

Town officials want to find out about residents' eating habits and their physical activity, and they invite Watertown residents to fill out two online surveys.

Watertown received a Community Transformation Grant and will used the money to conduct the Wellness Survey. The information submitted will be used to get a picture at people's physical activity and access to healthy food, and ultimately to create a Wellness Policy.

To entice people to fill out the surveys, which they say will take 5 to 10 minutes, the town is running a raffle for people participating in the Wellness Survey. Prizes include gift cards to local businesses.

Answers will not be shared, according to the release provided by the Planning Department. Here is the full release, including links to the surveys:

The Town of Watertown has received a Community Transformation Grant to look at wellness in our community. Wellness to a community means looking at how easy it is for residents to access the Town’s amenities and resources in daily activities like commuting, shopping, exercising and leisure time. 

Each survey should take about 5-10 minutes:

-Active Living

-Healthy Eating + Smoking

Raffle prizes include gift cards to local Businesses such as Maximo's, Mount Auburn Club and more! If you would like to be included in the raffle, please include your contact info at the end of the survey. Also, please forward e-mail to other Watertown residents or to people who work in Watertown.

Ultimately, we will be evaluating the Town’s role in providing options for physical activity and access to healthy foods. We would like to receive information from as many of Watertown’s residents as possible. If you can assist another resident or family member in completing the survey please do so. The information collected in this survey will be helpful in creating a baseline report that will inform the Town’s new Wellness Policy and future programs and projects. Individual information and responses will not be shared.  

Thank you very much for taking the time to complete the survey.  If you have any further questions or comments feel free to contact the Community Development and Planning staff at (617) 972-6417.