Mississippi 4-H Youth and UnitedHealthcare Promote Healthy Lifestyles with a Bike Blender
UnitedHealthcare and Mississippi 4-H youth hosted a Family Fun and Fitness Day for Jackson-area families to promote healthy eating and exercise at the Mississippi Basketball & Athletics facility.
The event was part of the UnitedHealthcare Mississippi 4-H “Eat4-Health” partnership, now in its third year, which aims to reduce obesity rates among young people and families in the state through youth and community-based education and awareness programs.
At today’s event, UnitedHealthcare’s mascot Dr. Health E. Hound joined Jackson-area youth, their families, 4-H youth and community leaders, including Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, for fun, healthy activities such as relay races, fitness games, dance routines and basketball shoot-arounds. There were also hands-on cooking demonstrations, healthy-smoothie competitions with a “blender bike,” nutrition information and free Body Mass Index (BMI) health screenings.
Left: Cheered on by Dr. Health E. Hound and Mississippi 4-H program leader Manola Erby, nine year old Joseph Walker pedals to create a healthy smoothie using a “bike blender.” The Family Fun and Fitness event was part of the UnitedHealthcare Mississippi 4-H “Eat4-Health” partnership, which aims to reduce obesity rates among young people and families through youth and community-based education and awareness programs. The activities at the Family Fun & Fitness Day are part of a series of trainings and events made possible by a $30,000 grant provided by UnitedHealthcare to Alcorn State University Extension Program, which administers 4-H programs to all counties in the state. (Photo: Business Wire)
Dairy Council Awards $48,000+ to Healthy School Team Leaders for Bike Blenders….Amongst Other Things!
Santa came early this year delivering more than $48,000 in grant funds to the Healthy School Team Leaders for each of the 12 Winter Park Consortium schools at their holiday party at the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) on December 11.
Representatives of the Dairy Council of Florida played the part of Santa, presenting king-sized versions of grant checks to HST Leaders and their principals who joined them for the party. They also brought along a photo booth, games and a bicycle blender to add to the festivities.
Above: Bike blending on the Fender Blender Pro
The grants were awarded through the Dairy Council of Florida’s Fuel Up to Play 60 (FUTP60) program. The program was created by the National Football League in collaboration with the National Dairy Council to decrease child obesity. As part of the program, schools are invited to apply for grant funding for programs and activities that encourage healthy eating and physical activity.
Grant dollars will be used for a variety of projects ranging from the purchase of blender bikes children ride to make smoothies to the creation of a cooking club, the support for healthy food and smoothie tastings, and the addition of a white board to promote healthy eating.
To promote physical activity, the grants will be used to buy pedometers, bicycle helmets, roller skates and related safety supplies, bicycles, heart rate monitors and a table tennis set.
The partnership with the Dairy Council of Florida is new this school year, and was made possible with the help of Melodie Griffin. She serves as an independent contractor to the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) responsible for coordinating bi-monthly HST leader meetings, providing technical support and helping identify resources and external funding sources to help leaders in meet their goals.
Do you know of a school that needs help funding a bike blender in 2014? Please direct them here!
Story Source: http://healthykidstoday.org/2013/12/dairy-council-awards-48000-plus-to-healthy-school-teams/
Read MoreSun ‘N Lake Elementary’s Smoothie Bike is Part of the Schools ‘Fuel Up to Play 60’ Awards Ceremony
Above: Sun ‘N Lake Elementary fifth grader Jackson Colquitt puts the pedal to the metal to mix up a homemade smoothie on the Smoothie Bike as part of the school’s ‘Fuel Up to Play 60‘ awards ceremony Thursday. Coach Willie English (right) looks on as his students work together to maintain healthy lifestyles.
To read the whole article, please go here: Healthy habits pay off for group of Sun ‘N Lake Elementary students
More about the Fender Blender Pro.
Read MoreSomething Good in the World’s Holiday Craft Fair sold more fruit smoothies at our fundraiser than ever before, thanks to the bike blender
At Something Good in the World‘s Energy of Youth Concert, teenagers performed and raised enough funds to purchase a Bike Blender from Rock the Bike. Every year, the Blue Star Youth Movement members make delicious organic fruit smoothies for Something Good in the World’s Holiday Craft Fair, and this year, anyone who wanted a smoothie had to ride the bike blender to make their own! This video features Blue Star member Violet Kravitz on the bike:
We’ll be writing more about it in our newsletter in the spring, and basically we are thrilled with the kit and delighted to have worked with you! We sold more fruit smoothies at our fundraiser than ever before, because so many kids wanted to ride the bike. And since our bike didn’t fit your stand, we hooked it up to our Pedal-a-Watt system, and so the kids generated electricity and lit up lightbulbs at the same time as they blended the smoothies! It was a total win-win situation. Talk about sustainable living practices!…
All the best,
Barbara Sarbin, President
Something Good in the World, Inc.
FBISD Schools Receive Grants to Fund Bike Blender
The Oliver Foundation awarded Healthy Choices Grants to three Fort Bend ISD schools – Dulles Middle School, Missouri City Middle School and Oyster Creek Elementary School – to support their efforts in developing innovative programs to help improve students’ nutrition and physical activity habits.
The Oliver Foundation awarded a $3,000 Campus Grade Level Grant to Missouri City Middle School for the purchase of a Fender Blender Pro, a blender bike from Rock the Bike. The human powered, stationary blender bike is allowing students and staff to spin their way to health as they prepare smoothies. The bike has an actual blender attached to it that works as someone pedals the bike. The faster you pedal, the quicker it blends.
Above: Shown with the blender bike are (from left): Ivan Sanchez, Kalyn Parks, Coach Michael James, Kevin Butler, Dominique Scott, Marla McNeal-Sheppard, FBISD Assistant Superintendent; Karen Crittenden, School Nurse; Bayli Mosley, Angel Johnson, Lola Washington, Health Teacher; and Dr. Jesus Acosta, Principal.
“We are so excited and grateful to The Oliver Foundation,” said Karen Crittenden, school nurse. “Our goal is to continue to generate excitement about being healthy and to encourage everyone to increase their physical activity and eat more nutritious meals.”
The blender bike is used school-wide. Health teachers use the bike as a healthy incentive for students to make fruit and vegetable-based smoothies with low-fat dairy. The blender bike is also used as a healthy and fun icebreaker at faculty meetings. The Human Services class uses it to make healthy spreads like hummus and pesto. The Teens Against Tabacco Use (TATU) and Move It! club members use the bike at outreach events to teach others about healthy lifestyles. The bike is even being used by custodians and cafeteria employees during their lunch and afternoon breaks.
For the full article, please go here: http://www.fortbendstar.com/2013/11/13/fbisd-schools-receive-oliver-foundation-grants-to-support-health-initiatives/
Read MoreFender Blenders in the Media
Food Network’s “The Kitchen”
A photo from the production of “The Kitchen” in Montclair, N.J., on Wednesday, June 3, 2015.
Photo: David M. Russell/BSTV
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