For the last three years, children across Western North Carolina visited farms, families learned how to cook with fresh produce, teachers created gardens for students, food pantries stocked healthy items, and children in need received backpacks of healthy food and recipes for the weekend. 

These are just a few programs in the Growing Minds-Healthy Bodies (GMHB) Partnership.  Through a North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund (HWTF) Fit Together grant, Children First, Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP), and MANNA Food Bank worked together to promote healthy eating and physical activity in Western North Carolina since 2004.  This local partnership was one of just 21 community-based initiatives in North Carolina selected for a three year Fit Together grant. 

The partnership's goal was to increase access to fresh produce and provide education about nutrition and physical activity so that children can achieve a healthy weight.  The three year grant concluded in March 2007 and here are some of the results.
 

• GMHB reached 9 elementary and high schools with ASAP's school garden program, offering youth the experience to grow and eat their own vegetables. 
• GMHB provided 11,900 students in 4 school districts with the opportunity to eat locally grown produce from Western NC farms through ASAP's Farm to School initiative.
• GMHB provided 1,596 children in 15 elementary schools with 60,222 pounds of fresh produce to take home to their families from MANNA's Backpack Program. 
• GMHB provided 151,972 pounds of food to over 1,300 families at the Children First Family Resource Center at Emma.
• GMHB handed out 52,596 recipes in English and Spanish, helping MANNA clients learn how to cook produce in a healthy way.

Upon concluding the partnership, Growing Minds-Healthy Bodies coordinator Shelley Booth, remarked  "I am honored to have been a part of this work in my community.  It also impacted me on a personal level. Being exposed to the rich experiences of school gardens, farm field trips, nutrition education, and the overall importance of teaching children at a young age about the value of good food and where it comes from, has been a gift to me."

Allison Jordan, Executive Director of Children First, reports, "from cooking demonstrations and a community garden at the Children First Family Resource Center at Emma, to serving healthy food at board meetings, we recognize the importance of providing all children and families we serve with access to healthy food choices.  And we are committed to sustaining these improvements."  

To read more, visit our website.
 

June's Champion for Children is Carol Ray - Claxton Elementary School Principal

Carol has served as an administrator in the Asheville City School System for 13 years, as the principal of three city elementary schools, and the Executive Director of Elementary Education.  She was honored as the Western Region principal of the year in 2001.  Carol facilitated the partnership with the city elementary schools and Children First to fill needed school positions such as teacher assistants and volunteer coordinators with Project POWER/AmeriCorps members.
 

Every month, Children First's Board of Directors recognizes a community member for their exceptional dedication to children. To see past Champions for Children click here.
 

We welcome Norma Brown to Children First. She began this spring as the Latino Outreach Coordinator at our Family Resource Center at Emma. Norma brings a diverse background of experience working with migrant communities. She is a lawyer from Argentina and worked for Haywood County Schools as an ESL instructor. While there she built stronger Latino parent involvement in the school system. Regarding her work at Children First, she notes, "the best way to help children is to work with parents and that is an opportunity that Children First provides at the Family Resource Center." Norma is pictured (standing) talking to mothers at the Family Resource Center's Mother's Day event.

We are sad to say goodbye to Erin Krauss. Erin worked as the Family Support Coordinator at the Family Resource Center at Emma. Erin leaves Children First to pursue her Master's degree. She has touched the lives of numerous families and children during her tenure and we wish her success.
 

" I support Children First because they assure that children have the resources needed to reach their full potential. "