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Chula Accelerated School in Chula is one of five schools in northwest Missouri to have been awarded a Project Fit America grant.
The grant is made possible through Heartland Foundation and Project Fit America to promote Health and Wellness by sponsoring five schools within northwest Missouri.
Formed in 1990, Project Fit America is a nonprofit organization that donates fully funded fitness programs to schools creating new opportunities for children to be active, fit and healthy as part of the everyday school experience.
Since 1980 childhood obesity has tripled according to the U. S. Surgeon Generals’ Report. In answer to this trend, Project Fit America provides an action-based solution that works.
Programming includes state-of-the-art fitness equipment specifically designed to address the deficit areas where children fail fitness tests, indoor mobile fitness equipment, a curriculum with games and activities the kids play on the PFA outdoor and indoor equipment, and in class instruction on subjects such as smoking intervention, nutrition and understanding your body. PFA also provides support to the schools for two years with training on site.
In the 21 years since PFA’s inception, more than $10 million dollars has been raised for this vital initiative and PFA is now operating in more than 800 schools in 300 cities in 40 states.
The Heartland Foundation began sponsoring PFA in 1998 and to date has brought this program to 51 schools within the Foundation’s 30-county service region of northwest Missouri and adjacent counties in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.
“Physical education and fitness related activities continue to be cut or poorly funded, at a time when childhood obesity and related illnesses are at epidemic levels,” says PFA’s Executive Director Stacey Cook. “Our children’s health is too important to sit idly by, which is why we applaud the Heartland Foundation for taking this leadership role and bringing programming to these schools. These exemplary partnerships between the public and private sectors prove we can all work together to make a difference in improving the health of children.”
• The government estimates 6 million American children are now overweight enough to endanger their health.
• An additional 5 million are on the threshold and the problem is growing even more extreme as it becomes more widespread.
• Ten years ago, the medical community found that type 2 diabetes did not occur until after 40 years of age. Now it is regularly found in pediatric patients.
The lack of fitness and health awareness contributes to many problems as cited by classroom teachers. Some examples include:
• Lack of self-esteem
• Hyperactivity
• Aggressive behavior resulting in classroom disruptions and playground fights
• Experimenting with unsafe diet practices (fasting, diet pills, purging)
Chula Accelerated School in Chula is one of five schools in northwest Missouri to have been awarded a Project Fit America grant.
The grant is made possible through Heartland Foundation and Project Fit America to promote Health and Wellness by sponsoring five schools within northwest Missouri.
Formed in 1990, Project Fit America is a nonprofit organization that donates fully funded fitness programs to schools creating new opportunities for children to be active, fit and healthy as part of the everyday school experience.
Since 1980 childhood obesity has tripled according to the U. S. Surgeon Generals’ Report. In answer to this trend, Project Fit America provides an action-based solution that works.
Programming includes state-of-the-art fitness equipment specifically designed to address the deficit areas where children fail fitness tests, indoor mobile fitness equipment, a curriculum with games and activities the kids play on the PFA outdoor and indoor equipment, and in class instruction on subjects such as smoking intervention, nutrition and understanding your body. PFA also provides support to the schools for two years with training on site.
In the 21 years since PFA’s inception, more than $10 million dollars has been raised for this vital initiative and PFA is now operating in more than 800 schools in 300 cities in 40 states.
The Heartland Foundation began sponsoring PFA in 1998 and to date has brought this program to 51 schools within the Foundation’s 30-county service region of northwest Missouri and adjacent counties in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.
“Physical education and fitness related activities continue to be cut or poorly funded, at a time when childhood obesity and related illnesses are at epidemic levels,” says PFA’s Executive Director Stacey Cook. “Our children’s health is too important to sit idly by, which is why we applaud the Heartland Foundation for taking this leadership role and bringing programming to these schools. These exemplary partnerships between the public and private sectors prove we can all work together to make a difference in improving the health of children.”
• The government estimates 6 million American children are now overweight enough to endanger their health.
• An additional 5 million are on the threshold and the problem is growing even more extreme as it becomes more widespread.
• Ten years ago, the medical community found that type 2 diabetes did not occur until after 40 years of age. Now it is regularly found in pediatric patients.
The lack of fitness and health awareness contributes to many problems as cited by classroom teachers. Some examples include:
• Lack of self-esteem
• Hyperactivity
• Aggressive behavior resulting in classroom disruptions and playground fights
• Experimenting with unsafe diet practices (fasting, diet pills, purging)
