The American Values Award is given to public service employees who have demonstrated an exceptional work ethic and altruism toward the community in which they serve. 

It all began in 2000 when McCartney and his wife Kim, a registered nurse and fitness instructor, established the SAK Foundation in New Orleans.  Since then, their vision has evolved to help underprivileged people of all backgrounds to get in shape and feel better about themselves by planting fitness and wellness programs into underserved communities.

SAK is not an acronym, as most people would infer.  McCartney coined the word to be synonymous with high quality fitness, wellness and self-esteem programs in the community.  The non-profit organization is operated by a Board of Directors consisting of seven professionals who work directly in the health and wellness field. They range from doctors to nurses to people who have their master’s degree.  Kim McCartney manages the foundation’s program and effort as the director.

McCartney became a fitness instructor in 1998 while he was stationed in New Orleans with the U.S. Coast Guard.  He taught at the local base for free and then advanced to teaching in the local gyms at night. It was there that he began to notice disparities in accessible quality fitness programs for the community.  He wanted to provide the public with quality fitness, wellness and self-esteem programs, which they can enjoy at little to no cost.

“There were never really any programs,” said McCartney.  “There were always programs there for the people who were recovering from an illness, or recovering from addictions or recovering from smoking.  There was always plenty of money for that, but there was never any programs for the other side, which is prevention.”

Since the organization’s founding in 2000, the group has implemented numerous fitness, wellness and self-esteem programs in New Orleans, Miami and as far north as New York City.  In Miami alone, the SAK Foundation implemented an assortment of fitness, self-esteem and wellness programs in the Florida communities of Goulds, Homestead, Liberty City, Miami Beach, Davie and Coral Gables.  They also work closely with the Miami-Dade County Public School system in offering after-school fitness programs for the students.

The programs that are offered to the community are all free of charge to those who wish to attend.  Local donations and government grants provide the necessary funds needed to supply the community with quality programs. In addition, McCartney is planning to donate 80 percent of his $3,000 award money to the SAK Foundation. 

“It doesn’t cost that much to really put on a good program,” said McCartney.  “That is the neat thing about fitness, self-esteem and wellness programs.  Five hundred dollars could easily change the lives of 700 people.”

In addition to the various exercise programs, the SAK Foundation also offer classes in proper nutrition habits and reading food labels. The most popular program is the hip-hop aerobics class where students work out to the beat of today’s popular artists.  However, as popular as the program may seem, it is not easy to coordinate.  The instructors have to design a work out program that caters to the right audience using the appropriate type of music and work out moves.

“You can’t go into kid’s fitness without having hip-hop music and moves that they can understand.  That isn’t easy, but we found a way to do it, and it’s catchy and the kids love it,” said McCartney.  “Same thing with seniors.  You can’t take a senior and put on today’s music because they don’t understand that.  That isn’t what they listen to.  So you have to find out what they listen to, and then take that music and change it so that it is in fitness format.  We have to get the music right,” he added. 

Membership fees to use a professional gym can cost up to $50 a month.  Most people don’t have access to a large professional gym with a variety of work out machines.  In result, their health suffers from a lack of resources and knowledge.

By bringing the programs into various local communities, SAK will be able to improve the physical and mental health of the people who wish to improve their lives.  

The foundation also airs fitness programs with the help of the Miami-Dade County Cable Television Access Project (Cable-TAP).  The television show allows SAK to provide the people across the whole county access to their programs.  The shows are broadcasted to more than 500,000 households. 

“Our mission is to improve the fitness, self-esteem, and health information in the urban community by bring our mobile high energy programs into the urban communities.  I have been given a lot of opportunities in the military, and I want to be able to impart that a little bit into the lives of the people in the community where I happen to be living.” said McCartney.