As part of its efforts to combat childhood obesity, the Kent State University Center for Nutrition Outreach will host Nutrition “Field Day” for Headstart preschool students on Wednesday, April 18th at the Central Annex in Kent. High school students from Bridges Academy will lead nutrition related games and offer healthy snack taste tests for the preschoolers. In addition, Bridges students will assist preschoolers with making healthy snacks, reading nutrition-focused stories and planting seeds for a school garden.
Earlier this year, the Kent State University Center for Nutrition Outreach received a $1,000 UnitedHealth HEROES grant to implement Learning to Lose, an eight-week service learning nutrition program to fight childhood obesity. The program combined education and learning with community service to empower youth to promote and advocate a healthy lifestyle. The Nutrition Field Day is the culminating event of the program.
UnitedHealth HEROES is a service-learning, health literacy initiative developed by UnitedHealthcare and Youth Service America (YSA) designed to encourage young people to create and implement programs to encourage healthy lifestyles. UnitedHealthcare awarded $12,000 in HEROES grants to organizations in Ohio, including eight Northern Ohio organizations. Projects culminate April 20-22, 2012 on Global Youth Service Day, the world’s largest and longest-running youth-led service campaign. A complete list of grant winners and their projects is available online at www.ysa.org/HEROES.