In the August 26th Vero Beach Press Journal, journalist Lisa Bolivar reported on the findings of a study released the day before. According to the Treasure Coast Food Bank and Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization, about 30.5% of kids in the Treasure Coast region of Florida “struggle with hunger.”
The findings centered around a term I hear more and more frequently: food insecurity. It means a lack of a stable food supply.
We must find the courage to talk about food insecurity. Why? Because all kids deserve access to food. Healthy food. Fresh food. Good food.
So let’s talk about food and kids. Why is there food insecurity? How can we morally allow a child to go hungry?
I choose to teach kids and families how to prepare healthy meals and snacks economically using fresh foods. The dollar menu at McDonalds is not the answer to our food insecurity crisis. We have a problem and we have to talk about it. Call your neighborhood elementary or middle school principal and ask them how many kids they serve are in situations where they are “food insecure” and go home to empty kitchen shelves, if they are the lucky ones who have a place to call home.
If we are going to solve the childhood obesity crisis, where kids are eating too many calories and too much fat, white flour, white sugar, and salt, we must talk about food. Too much of it for some. Too little of it for others. Not the right balance for many.
Food and shelter are basic rights. If we don’t have access to good foods, then how can we expect kids to achieve the greatness that each child is capable of?
It’s time to do something to protect the health - and lives - of America's children. What will YOU choose to do?
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids, Inc.
"Because failure to reverse childhood obesity is not an option"
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Tribute to a Hero
On August 7th, a 64-year old champion for children made his transition. This man was one of the first people I worked with when I first conceptualized the national partnerships I wanted for Growing Healthy Kids, a young organization dedicated to reversing childhood obesity. Inspired by an article in Kiwanis magazine, I made it my goal to meet the local head of Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County. It took a couple of calls to pin him down to a date when we could meet. We finally met at the old Vero Beach Boys and Girls Club in a dilapidated building on 27th Avenue, where children played right next to a dangerous roadway. The rooms in the rented building had terrible acoustics, especially when filled with energetic kids spending their transition from school to home while their parents worked 2 and 3 minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. He wore a button-down white shirt and dress pants.
A quiet man and a great listener, I gave him the proposal from the Growing Healthy Kids organization: volunteer at the two Boys and Girls Clubhouses on opposite ends of Indian River County once a week for the next nine months, build teaching gardens and conduct weekly healthy eating classes with vegetables we would grow. Teach the kids how to be leaders in eating healthy and being active. Take the kids on field trips to meet with chefs and visit local farmers. It took him about 5 minutes of listening and asking me why I wanted to do all this for him to say "yes" to the proposal.
We did all those things and more because it was always “Fun with a Purpose”. Our purpose? To reverse childhood obesity in Indian River County and beyond.
His only request was that the Growing Healthy Kids program, in creating a partnership with Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County, employ his philosophy, “ Fun with a Purpose”. He agreed to let us build small raised bed gardens, where over the course of the next nine months, we created magic for kids, many of whom moved once every month or two because their parents were recently unemployed. Our weekly healthy cooking classes became a popular class with the kids screaming with excitement because it might have been the best-tasting food they'd had all week.
When I first learned of the Executive Director’s illness, I sensed it was serious. Several times I called so I could update him on our progress and plan for the next phase. Each time, I was told he was on an extended medical leave but I could meet with the program director. Then, earlier this year I was a speaker at the Quail Valley Rotary Club and learned that he was not only a Rotary member, but also slated to be the incoming president. The officer said this quiet man had called him to ask that someone else step into the incoming presidency role. I was saddened that this man’s life-threatening illness was robbing him not only his day-to-day work providing a solid, safe base for success for so many children in Indian River County but also his passion for being a community leader.
On August 7th we lost a hero who fought for the right of children to be treated with dignity, regardless of economic background. We lost a hero who knew the difference between right and wrong. We lost a hero who believed in leading by example.
Good-bye, Ronnie Hewett. You inspired me to create programs and lessons where “Fun with a Purpose” is the driving force. You are my hero. Thank you. On behalf of all the children whose lives the Growing Healthy Kids project has touched, thank you.
Rest in peace, Ronnie. You will be missed.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
A quiet man and a great listener, I gave him the proposal from the Growing Healthy Kids organization: volunteer at the two Boys and Girls Clubhouses on opposite ends of Indian River County once a week for the next nine months, build teaching gardens and conduct weekly healthy eating classes with vegetables we would grow. Teach the kids how to be leaders in eating healthy and being active. Take the kids on field trips to meet with chefs and visit local farmers. It took him about 5 minutes of listening and asking me why I wanted to do all this for him to say "yes" to the proposal.
We did all those things and more because it was always “Fun with a Purpose”. Our purpose? To reverse childhood obesity in Indian River County and beyond.
His only request was that the Growing Healthy Kids program, in creating a partnership with Boys and Girls Clubs of Indian River County, employ his philosophy, “ Fun with a Purpose”. He agreed to let us build small raised bed gardens, where over the course of the next nine months, we created magic for kids, many of whom moved once every month or two because their parents were recently unemployed. Our weekly healthy cooking classes became a popular class with the kids screaming with excitement because it might have been the best-tasting food they'd had all week.
When I first learned of the Executive Director’s illness, I sensed it was serious. Several times I called so I could update him on our progress and plan for the next phase. Each time, I was told he was on an extended medical leave but I could meet with the program director. Then, earlier this year I was a speaker at the Quail Valley Rotary Club and learned that he was not only a Rotary member, but also slated to be the incoming president. The officer said this quiet man had called him to ask that someone else step into the incoming presidency role. I was saddened that this man’s life-threatening illness was robbing him not only his day-to-day work providing a solid, safe base for success for so many children in Indian River County but also his passion for being a community leader.
On August 7th we lost a hero who fought for the right of children to be treated with dignity, regardless of economic background. We lost a hero who knew the difference between right and wrong. We lost a hero who believed in leading by example.
Good-bye, Ronnie Hewett. You inspired me to create programs and lessons where “Fun with a Purpose” is the driving force. You are my hero. Thank you. On behalf of all the children whose lives the Growing Healthy Kids project has touched, thank you.
Rest in peace, Ronnie. You will be missed.
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
Saturday, August 20, 2011
GHK Poster Contest Deadline Extended
Dear Parents and Kids,
We want ideas from the kids about what being healthy means to them. So we are extending the deadline to September 30, 2011 for the 1st Annual Growing Healthy Kids Poster Contest!
The theme is "Healthy Eating...Healthy Me". Any medium can be used on an 8-1/2" x 11" paper. The theme words must be included as part of your poster. Prizes include Publix gift certificates, personalized herb gardens, and T-shirts printed with your design.
Mail your entries, along with a $5.00 entry fee* (payable to "Growing Healthy Kids") to:
Growing Healthy Kids
3300 43rd Avenue, #4
Vero Beach, FL 32960
Include the following information with each poster:
Parent name
Parent phone or email
Address
Child's name
Child's school grade in 2011/2012
School name
*$1.00 entry fee for families enrolled in Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program
Help us reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. Kids' voices can help teach others.
(Photo is from a GHK field trip to visit a local hydroponic farmer in Grant, Florida)
Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to improve the health - and lives - of America's - and the world's - kids, one child and one garden at a time.
In gratitude,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
We want ideas from the kids about what being healthy means to them. So we are extending the deadline to September 30, 2011 for the 1st Annual Growing Healthy Kids Poster Contest!
The theme is "Healthy Eating...Healthy Me". Any medium can be used on an 8-1/2" x 11" paper. The theme words must be included as part of your poster. Prizes include Publix gift certificates, personalized herb gardens, and T-shirts printed with your design.
Mail your entries, along with a $5.00 entry fee* (payable to "Growing Healthy Kids") to:
Growing Healthy Kids
3300 43rd Avenue, #4
Vero Beach, FL 32960
Include the following information with each poster:
Parent name
Parent phone or email
Address
Child's name
Child's school grade in 2011/2012
School name
*$1.00 entry fee for families enrolled in Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program
Help us reverse the childhood obesity epidemic. Kids' voices can help teach others.
(Photo is from a GHK field trip to visit a local hydroponic farmer in Grant, Florida)
Growing Healthy Kids is a movement to improve the health - and lives - of America's - and the world's - kids, one child and one garden at a time.
In gratitude,
Nancy Heinrich
Founder, Growing Healthy Kids
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