More Happy and Healthy Kids Please!
The smell of bananas, strawberries, blueberries, and other fresh fruits filled the air as you walked into the Gardening to Cooking classroom in Operation Shoestring’s Project Rise afterschool program. The kids were enjoying making and tasting fruit smoothies using no-sugar-added recipes.
This lesson is just one of the many taught within our healthy living series provided in part by the UMMC’s Center of Obesity Research. Throughout the year, our staff has worked very closely with program administrator Mary Saulters to plan and strategize around activities that teach our kids and their families about healthy living practices.
Operating under the belief that there is a strong link between good nutrition and education, this partnership serves our children on multiple levels. Focusing on their health helps make them succeed in all aspects of their lives from developing proper social skills to being able to concentrate more during instructional time in school.
In addition to teaching our kids about being healthy, there’s also a parent leadership initiative associated with our UMMC partnership. We’re teaching parents about healthy food choices, food budgeting, and how to add physical activity into your family routine.
At Operation Shoestring, we believe educating the whole child is essential to his or her growth. And it’s because of great partnerships – like this one with UMMC – and great supporters – like you – that we’re able to create healthy living opportunities for our children and their families. These opportunities are often what leads to an overall successful life for our kids…and the kids in all of our communities.