Auglaize County, Ohio
Fit to Achieve: Good Decisions for Life
Auglaize/Mercer Counties Family YMCA
Minster Local School District Partnership

With a grant from The Dannon Company, the Auglaize County YMCA and Minster Local School District will work in partnership to implement age appropriate classroom activities for 887 students in first through twelfth grade to promote positive attitudes about nutrition and healthy eating. Students will set personal goals for nutrition and physical activities and win accolades for active participation in school programs such as the Feelin’ Good Mileage Club, Dietary Journal, and Nutrition Olympics. Cooking classes for students and their parents as well as a cooking competition will incorporate Dannon products and other nutritious food choices. The program will incorporate partners from across Auglaize County, including the Stallo Public Library, Joint Township District Memorial Hospital, Road of Life-Cancer Prevention for Kids, Wagner’s IGA, Haus Der Eleganz, and local newspapers, to jointly promote healthy nutrition and physical activity throughout the entire community.

Committed to building strong kids, strong families and strong communities, the Auglaize/Mercer Counties Family YMCA is in its 23rd year of service in the Auglaize and Mercer Counties area. The Minster Local School District is a public school district located in southern Auglaize County in Minster, Ohio, serving 958 students in kindergarten through twelfth grades.

Salt Lake County, Utah
4-H TRY Nutrition Education Program
Utah State 4-H Youth Development Program

In partnership with Utah State University, the Salt Lake County 4-H Youth Development Program will utilize Dannon funding to train 40 local teens to conduct nutrition workshops for approximately 200 Salt Lake County children in grades K-5. The mentoring program, called TRY, or Teens Reaching Youth Nutrition Education Program, promotes leadership and positive role models, and will address the lack of nutrition knowledge among Salt Lake County students. In teams consisting of 3-4 teens and an adult supervisor, teens will teach a curriculum that includes hands-on food preparation, physical activity and games, and nutritional information to a group of 20 younger children. Additionally, a parents newsletter will reinforce the weekly concepts to promote healthy eating choices at home.

In 2005, the Salt Lake County 4-H program involved approximately 27,000 children in educational programs. For more than 100 years, 4-H has been promoting life skills development for children nationwide.

Tarrant County, Texas
Eating Well - Together
Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas

With more than 20% of all fourth graders in Texas overweight or obese, and 63% of all Texas adults overweight or obese, Texas has become a national leader in obesity. With support from The Dannon Company, Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas will begin to incorporate nutrition into its mentoring program through the launch of Eating Well - Together, a nutrition curriculum for children and their mentors focused on creating healthier eating habits. In collaboration with community partners, including nonprofits, medical practitioners and agencies of local government focused on promoting nutrition, Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas will also create a nutrition curriculum and educational materials to share with mentors and more than 200 children of late elementary and middle school age across 12 counties in North Texas, including the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area. Classes and educational materials build on existing mentoring relationships and complement life skill themes such as outdoor activity, study habits, and substance abuse. Nutritional advice will also be featured in Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas’s newsletter and pamphlets to be distributed to the larger community.

Founded in 1903, Big Brothers Big Sisters is the nation’s oldest and premier youth mentoring organization. Since 1928, Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas has grown steadily, now serving 12 counties through its Arlington headquarters and six satellite offices.

Westchester County, New York
Rx for Fitness
Hudson River HealthCare

With funding from The Dannon Company, Hudson River HealthCare aims to lower obesity rates among low-income, minority children ages 6 to 11 in the Peekskill area of Westchester County through its Rx for Fitness program. Currently, nearly one third of children (32.7 %) targeted by Hudson River HealthCare are overweight, well over twice the national rate. The Rx for Fitness program will guide children and their caregivers how to improve eating, food purchasing and physical activity patterns and habits through weekly interactive educational lessons. Classes will include lessons on dance, how to prepare healthy foods using ingredients, such as low-fat dairy products, and how parents can promote nutrition and exercise in the home. An estimated 150 children and their caregivers will initially participate in Rx for Fitness, reaching up to 500 additional family members in participant homes.

Hudson River HealthCare has been serving medically underserved populations in southeastern New York State since 1975. These include special populations such as persons with HIV/AIDS, multiply-challenged children, high-risk adolescents, migrant farm workers, residents of public housing and homeless families. It is comprised of a network of thirteen community health centers, serving more than 42,000 patients throughout the Hudson Valley.