Dr. Pierre Rouzier has spearheaded a project intended to fight a nationwide epidemic.
Laura Porter of Haydenville reads the storyboards of the book "Harry Gets Moving," set up as a "story walk" at the Envision Depot Square Holyoke Block Party.HOLYOKE – Pierre Rouzier’s original plan was to buy property in Miami.
Rouzier, a staff physician at the University of Massachusetts who works with the athletic department; his son Anthony, a former UMass football player now in law school at Florida International University; and Anthony’s friend Jack Odell were walking in the area surrounding the new Marlins Stadium last October.
Pierre was about to refinance his Amherst home and was looking to invest money in a new project.
“Then we saw how much the property costs,” he said.
Anthony Rouzier had a better idea. Odell used to call him “Henry T. Hamster” because of the way he ate. The duo always thought it would be funny to have a fat character with that name in a book, a character that would eventually become skinny.
“Dad, let’s write a children’s book about childhood obesity” Anthony said.
And thus, Henry was born.
Twelve months later, “Henry Gets Moving” was launching Saturday with the help of a handful of UMass football players as part of an event in Holyoke promoting the development of Depot Square.
The goal book of the book is to fight childhood obesity, an ever-increasing epidemic sweeping the nation.
“Up to one-third of adults are obese,” Pierre Rouzier said. “Up to 17 percent of children are obese, and in general, obese children become obese adults and die early.”
The book features a chubby hamster, Henry, who moves to a new community and struggles to make friends. Henry meets Jasmine, who encourages him to trade junk food for salads and video games for playground time.
By the end of his 32-page journey, our hamster hero is a lean, mean fighting machine inspiring others to get fit.
“We want Henry to become a symbol for fighting childhood obesity across the country,” Anthony Rouzier said. “Right now, we lack a symbol for kids to live an active, healthy lifestyle.”
The business plan for the book is as creative as its illustrations. Hatched by the Rouziers and Odell, the idea for marketing Henry wasn’t to sell him one at a time – it was to sell in bulk.
The group’s goal is to find individuals and organizations willing to donate books in bulk to schools and community centers. Already, Team Henry has found a donor for the Holyoke-Springfield-Chicopee Head Start program, and there were 200 books available at Saturday’s event in Holyoke.
Pierre Rouzier used his experience self-publishing "The Sports Medicine Patient Advisor" to do the same with Henry.
Though the book’s mission is to fight childhood obesity, it’s serving as a building block for several young careers, another reason Pierre Rouzier hasn’t minded investing tens of thousands of dollars of his own money.
Anthony Rouzier and Odell are getting much-needed business experience.
Odell’s sister Catherine, an artist in Portland, Ore, will now have an illustrating credit on her resume.
Chaz Nielsen, the son of a longtime family friend, had been considering medical school as a career option after graduating from UMass with a degree in journalism. His writing background, combined with an interest in public health, made Nielsen a perfect co-author.
“When I broke it down, I asked, ‘What do I want to fund?’” Pierre Rouzier said. “I want to fund a great project, but I also want to fund four kids in their twenties.”
Of course, like any family affair, Team Henry wasn’t without its bickering, but with Pierre Rouzier’s publishing experience, easy-going management style and true passion for the project, he served as father not just to his own kids, but to the team.
“It kind of felt like he was a father sometimes, but that’s not unique to this project,” Nielsen said. “I’ve often referred to Pierre and (his wife) Arlene as my ‘backup parents.’"
Now, as the project moves forward, it comes down to finding angels to donate books and organizations that want to accept them. To help promote the book locally, UMass athletes will read it to children in schools next week.
The book is available for purchase at Amazon.com, and more information can be found at henrygetsmoving.com.