Kaiser Permanente urges local school kids to "Fire Up Your Feet"

The children walked, ran, biked, and diligently kept track of their activities. As a result, 10 schools in Hayward, Newark, Fremont and Alameda school districts won cash awards as part of “Fire Up Your Feet,” a program sponsored by Kaiser Permanente and the Thriving Schools partnership to encourage physical activity and healthy eating in schools.
Across Northern California 29 schools are sharing in more than $20,000 in “Fire Up Your Feet” awards.

“Kaiser Permanente’s mission is to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve,” said Dr.Robert Greenberg, Physician-in-Chief, Kaiser Permanente San Leandro Medical Center. “With many schools surrounding our new hospital, we’re so pleased that we can inspire children to ‘thrive’ by getting exercise, fresh air and education about nutrition.”

Four schools in the Hayward Unified District won top awards of $1,000. They are Cherryland Elementary, Fairview Elementary, Lorin Eden Elementary and Winton Middle School.
Other winners include: Harder and Tyrell Elementary Schools in the Hayward District;Lum Elementary and Wood Middle School in the Alameda District; Musick Elementary School in the Newark Unified School District, and Azevada Elementary in the Fremont Unified School District.

At participating schools, parents, students and school staff kept track of their physical activity during the month-long challenge using the online Fire Up Your Feet activity tracker. There were Challenge Awards in several categories, including most overall participation, highest weekly activity tracking numbers, most bicycling and most walking. The awards help to support walking school bus programs, the purchase of bike racks, safety vests, incentives for Walking Wednesdays, traffic safety countermeasures to help promote more walking and biking.
Here’s a short, fun video highlights 2014 “Fire Up Your Feet” winner Cherryland Elementary School: https://youtu.be/-W370CMOhu4