Hundreds of local children will be getting bags full of healthy goodies thanks to a federal grant and some local leg work.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
WIC employee Ann Robson, second from right, and coworker Patty Granato fill bags Wednesday afternoon with items designed to promote an active and healthy lifestyle for children of WIC clients.
WIC employee Ann Robson, second from right, and coworker Patty Granato fill bags Wednesday afternoon with items designed to promote an active and healthy lifestyle for children of WIC clients.
The Cayuga County Women, Infants and Children program is currently in the middle of carrying out the 2009 Health Life Grant by delivering 400 bags promoting healthy lifestyles to local WIC families with children between 2 and 5 years old.
This will be the fourth year WIC will distribute the bags, which local health officials and volunteers put together last week. The local Eat Well Play Hard program also contributed to the program by supplying volunteers and donating items to include in the packages.
Mary Beth Hogan, WIC coordinator in Cayuga County, said the bags help with one of the programs top priorities, fighting childhood obesity.
“I think society as a whole doesn't realize the importance of fruits and vegetables in our diets,” Hogan said. “And we've become so sedentary, we've forgotten how to get out and play or get on our bikes.”
Each bag contains items associated with nutrition or activity. There are throwing discs, water bottles, bean bags, pails and shovels. Healthy cookbooks and coloring books, bookmarks with nutritional information, growth charts and other informative items were also included in the bags.
About a dozen volunteers took time last week to help put the bags together at the WIC office. Hogan said the items will be distributed over the next three months or so.
The idea, she said, is to encourage all four of WICs strategies to fight childhood obesity: physical activity, lower fat content, increase fruits and vegetables and look for smaller portion sizes.
“I think a lot of families don't realize the impact of everyday choices of food and exercise,” Hogan said.
The WIC program began locally in 1978 with 150 participants, and it has since grown to serve 1,789 people. It is a federally funded program that offers nutrition information and education through referrals to income eligible families with children 5 or younger.
The program is run out of the Old Post Office in downtown Auburn, and it holds one evening clinic a month for working families.
Hogan said dealing with childhood obesity is an uphill battle, as so many people don't put nutrition and exercise high on their priority lists. But she also said state health officials recently said during a regional conference that statistics are showing WICs efforts have put a dent in the problem over the past decade.
That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of challenges, Hogan said.
“Just having a mom or dad buy into the fact that their food habits are possibly a problem can be a huge challenge,” Hogan said.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net
This will be the fourth year WIC will distribute the bags, which local health officials and volunteers put together last week. The local Eat Well Play Hard program also contributed to the program by supplying volunteers and donating items to include in the packages.
Mary Beth Hogan, WIC coordinator in Cayuga County, said the bags help with one of the programs top priorities, fighting childhood obesity.
“I think society as a whole doesn't realize the importance of fruits and vegetables in our diets,” Hogan said. “And we've become so sedentary, we've forgotten how to get out and play or get on our bikes.”
Each bag contains items associated with nutrition or activity. There are throwing discs, water bottles, bean bags, pails and shovels. Healthy cookbooks and coloring books, bookmarks with nutritional information, growth charts and other informative items were also included in the bags.
About a dozen volunteers took time last week to help put the bags together at the WIC office. Hogan said the items will be distributed over the next three months or so.
The idea, she said, is to encourage all four of WICs strategies to fight childhood obesity: physical activity, lower fat content, increase fruits and vegetables and look for smaller portion sizes.
“I think a lot of families don't realize the impact of everyday choices of food and exercise,” Hogan said.
The WIC program began locally in 1978 with 150 participants, and it has since grown to serve 1,789 people. It is a federally funded program that offers nutrition information and education through referrals to income eligible families with children 5 or younger.
The program is run out of the Old Post Office in downtown Auburn, and it holds one evening clinic a month for working families.
Hogan said dealing with childhood obesity is an uphill battle, as so many people don't put nutrition and exercise high on their priority lists. But she also said state health officials recently said during a regional conference that statistics are showing WICs efforts have put a dent in the problem over the past decade.
That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of challenges, Hogan said.
“Just having a mom or dad buy into the fact that their food habits are possibly a problem can be a huge challenge,” Hogan said.
Staff writer Christopher Caskey can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or christopher.caskey@lee.net
Citizen
Hot Jobs
New! Off the Menu
The Citizens' Say
Post your comment - click hereThere are 1 comment(s)
me wrote on Jun 16, 2009 9:17 AM: