D230 Foundation hosts health and wellness event

The District 230 Foundation will host a health and wellness event on Saturday, Sept. 26, at Stagg High School in Palos Hills. A healthful dinner by chef Paul Boundas, owner of Country House Restaurant will begin at 5:30 after a vendors’ fair followed by a talk by Terry Wahls, M.D.

Wahls is a professor of medicine at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine in Iowa City. She was diagnosed with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis in 2000. By 2007 she was using a wheel chair. Running out of standard options, she embarked on her own journey and, through extensive research, compiled a list of important nutrients for her brain. Using what she would later term the Wahls Protocol, Dr. Wahls made lifestyle changes that, within a year, enabled her to not just survive, but to thrive.

“It’s so amazing how this whole event just came together,” said Jeanne Krapauskas, Executive Director of the D230 Foundation. “We are bringing Dr. Wahls to the Community to educate and give people hope.” Asked how the Foundation was able to land such big, marquee names like Dr. Wahls and the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Krapauskas said it was due to connections with Dr. Principe, founder of WellbeingMD and District 230 alumni.

“One of our alums, Jennifer Cobb-Thoman of Andrew High School 1988, has been working with and raising money for the (Fox) foundation for years. She was honored in New York for her efforts this past spring. It’s really exciting to have this connection.”

The District 230 Foundation provides grants that bring teachers’ creative ideas to life for the students throughout the district. Over the last six years it has distributed over $125,000. It also provides a scholarship every year for each of the three high schools in the district for one senior. The money for these scholarships is raised from school administrators’ donations.

Fourteen sponsors will be represented at the event, where patrons can walk around the tables to talk, shop, and learn about different areas of health and wellness. They are WellbeingMD, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Michael J. Fox Foundation, Kingdom Financial Solutions, Horton Insurance, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Smith Village, the Skender foundation, Gordon Food Service, New Vitality Health Foods, Vital Health, Natural Chiropractic Solutions, Pronger Smith. More than 40 vendors, will include Williams-Sonoma, Wildtree, Trinity Christian College, Seven Sons, Stella & Dot Jewelry, Shaklee, Pro-Rehab, Peace of Mind, Pass Health Foods, Orland Township, Palos Township, Norwex, McCord Gallery, Juice Plus, Holistic Health Institute, Holistic Happenings, Healthy Sins Vegan Café, Enlightened Hands Wellness & Massage, Elemental Center, Inc., Crema Bean Coffee Roasters, Country House Restaurant, Costco, Carpe Diem Yoga Studio, Barnes & Noble, Ava Anderson Non Toxic, and AARP.

Tickets cost $40 dollars and will not be sold at the door, but can be purchased at the Country House Restaurant, the Vegan Café in Lockport, New Vitality Health food store in Orland Park, the District 230 Administration Center in Orland Park, or on the foundation website, www.D230foundation.org

For more, contact Jeanne Krapauskas at (708) 856-6601 or jeannekrapauskas@gmail.com.