Network for a Healthy California

Outstanding people doing out of the ordinary things to promote nutrition and physical activity deserve special recognition. Do you know someone who chooses to take that extra step to promote healthy lifestyles? Be it a business owner, organization, or individual; now there is a way to acknowledge the work they are doing!

The criteria are simple: anyone choosing to go above and beyond “normal practices” by promoting the increased consumption of fruits and vegetables or encouraging more physical activity may be nominated.

- PTA’s or parents group working to encourage kids to get more physical exercise

These are just a few examples but anyone who is working to promote healthy lifestyles in the Sierra Cascade region may qualify.

Award: Those that are awarded will receive a Healthy Hero certificate to proudly display in their place of business, mention on the Network for a Healthy California—Sierra Cascade Region webpage (www.scnutrition.org), and media acknowledgement through a press release describing why they were chosen!

Megan Belcastro was awarded Healthy Hero for her energetic efforts in educating students on the importance of daily physical activity and eating fruits and vegetables. For the past few years Megan has taken on the role of health educator within Evergreen Middle School. Last year she expanded the health education by working closely with the UCCE Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program to distribute interactive nutrition and physical activity education materials to the teachers and students at Evergreen. She has also helped encourage and promote 7^th and 8^th grade students to participate in the schools Health Squad to engage the students to promote healthy lifestyles. She even goes above and beyond by purchasing supplies for healthy food demo, such as fruit smoothies, for her classes to keep students interested in healthy eating. We would like to thank Megan for all of her hard work and dedication to a healthy school environment.

Emily Hyatt at Antelope Elementary School was awarded Healthy Hero for being passionate about gardening. She worked as a part time assistant in the cafeteria during the day. As she served students lunches she became concerned that they are not eating fresh fruits and veggies, she began an aggressive campaign to start a gardening program at the school. With the support from the principal, Emily secured funding from many sources. There are now 14 large raised bed planters complete with drip systems and charming wood fence surrounding the garden area. Plans are in place to develop land the school owns behind the back fence for a pumpkin patch to raise money for the garden program. Currently tomatoes, squash, watermelon, cucumber and other veggies are thriving due to her non-stop work with children in the garden. The SERRF afterschool program is 100% supportive of all that she is doing, and we look forward to partnering with garden education plans during the after school time. Emily is committed to having the students eat the food that they grow, and next fall anticipates filling the cafeteria salad bar with produce the children planted and tended. The farm to table connection is evident here. Children are excited and proud when they talk about what they are doing in the garden.

Single Mom with two girls ages 4 and 7 with a baby due in July 2012 ages:4 and 7 with a baby on the way

“Being a Champion Mom, I’ve done a lot of changes for myself and for my 2 little girls. I am more willing to buy and try new produce that I see in the grocery store. I cut back on sugar sweetened beverages at home, added more fruits and vegetables into our diet and walking has become our favorite activity to do after work and school.”

Nancy is very active in her community by helping out during food distribution days at the local family action agency. She also encourages parents to attend local Healthy Lifestyle classes by making reminder phone calls and passing out flyers while they are getting their food distribution at the agency. Nancy has also been very helpful in translating for the Network for a Healthy California-Sierra Cascade Region.

“ As a Champion Mom, I have stopped buying soda and started buying more 100% fruit juice and more fruits and veggies. I have also encouraged more physical activity as a family.”

Rosario has also made a big effort to keep her family active. They often go for walks, bike rides, garden, or enjoy the outdoors with their family pets. She has helped to transform their lives and has seen the benefits firsthand. Last year, her child’s teacher recommended she get her son checked for ADHD since he was having a hard time focusing and settling down in class. After eliminating sugary drinks from his diet and adding in a healthy breakfast each morning, they noticed a significant difference, and now he is doing much better academically The Network for a Healthy California—Sierra Cascade Region presented Helen Stillwell with a Healthy Hero Award during the national Lights on for Afterschool Programs rally on October 20, 2011.

Helen promotes nutrition and healthy lifestyles in her job as a liaisonfor Lassen View School's Afterschool Program, Safe Education and Recreation for Rual Fmailies(SERRF) where she teachers about recycling, making nutritious choices, and has been working to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables offered to students. Helen worked with Kathy Brandt, the owner of Julias Fruit Stand, to supply fresh cantaloupe and watermelon tot he 90 students at Lassen View. Helen also teaches a club on food preservation where students have made fruit freezies with fresh berries and ended the year with a pickle party. Thanks to Helens hard work, Lassen View SERRF has been choosen as the official healthy behaviors site for the SERRF program in Tehama County.

Lassen View School Principal Debbie Lungi has taken big strides to support the state-wide campaign, “Re-think Your Drink”. The campaign was created by the Network for a Healthy Californiato reduce the intake of sugar-sweetened beverages by Americans. This year, Principal Lungi approved a new water filtration system to be installed in the Lassen View Elementary School staff lounge, where the soda machine was recently removed. Now teachers and co-workers can easily access cool, fresh, filtered water throughout the day, as well as hot water for tea.

In addition to removing soda machine and providing free, consistently safe drinking water, Lungi haspurchased stainless steel Klean Kanteen water bottles for her entire staff of 60 empolyees. The enviromently friendly bottles sport the school's name anf mascot, the panther. With these classy waterbottles, staff can enjoy crisp, cool water dispensed from the cooler.

The Network for a Healthy California—Sierra Cascade Region surprised local hero Deborah Cropley with a Healthy Hero award on April 26^th, 2011 for her work in promoting healthy eating to her students.

Deborah has been “caught” going above and beyond in her efforts to promote healthy eating. She has created an ideal environment for effective nutrition education by combining what the children learn in their classroom and the options they can choose from with their meals.

“She’s a huge advocate towards health,” said Amy Gonzales with Sierra Cascade Nutrition and Activity Promotion. “Through her enthusiasm, Deborah continues to inspire and empower her students to eat more fruits and vegetables every day.”

The Network for a Healthy California—Sierra Cascade Region (Network) surprised local hero Lorraine Dechter with a Healthy Hero award on December 18, 2009 for her work in spreading the message of healthy living. As news director and host of the morning edition of 91.7 KCHO, Lorraine makes local listeners aware of the importance of eating healthy and being physically active.

Lorraine has been “caught” going above and beyond in her efforts to promote healthy lifestyles. She has promoted several important nutrition initiatives on her radio show within the last year including the Rethink Your Drink Campaign and Oroville High School’s project to make healthier choices on campus. Through her enthusiasm, North State residents have gained knowledge about the importance of being physically active everyday and eating more fruits and vegetables.

“She’s a huge advocate towards health,” Bresette-Bergson said. “She finds these topics important and newsworthy and she’s a really fun person to work with.”

Karen Pautz, Executive Director of First 5 Siskiyou Children and Families Commission has been selected by the Network for a Healthy California—Sierra Cascade Region as a “Healthy Hero” for her work promoting healthy lifestyles in the Siskiyou community. On September 26th, the Network awarded Karen as a Healthy Hero at the Yreka community center during a physical activity training. Karen was being recognized because of her supportive attitude towards integrating nutrition and physical activity with First 5 Siskiyou County services. Also, Karen has personally been setting a great example of being healthy through her daily exercise routine and her goal to climb Mt. Shasta, for which she is currently training.

The Network for a Healthy California—Sierra Cascade Region has selected Kelly Rizzi of Rother Elementary as a “Healthy Hero” for her work in promoting healthy lifestyles in the Redding community. On Wednesday, April 30 at 2:00 p.m., the Network will surprise Kelly with the Healthy Hero award at Rother Elementary School (795 Hartnell Ave., Redding).

Kelly Rizzi is being recognized because of the never ending encouragement she gives to her students to live healthier lifestyles by eating more fruits and vegetables and engaging in physical activity. Every Monday morning she does live TV announcements to all of the students. Twice now in this school year, she has dressed up in a fruit or vegetable costume to make the message of eating healthy. Each time, she talked about the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables. Kelly is taking a great strides to improve the health of her students by giving “caught you being good” recognition when a student is “caught” with a healthy snack, which has been a huge success. Kelly also mentioned that the students are going home and asking their parents to buy them healthy snacks to take to school.

On January 6^th Richard Roth was surprised with a Healthy Hero Award by Jhoana Dela Cruz and Kim Ames from The Network for a Healthy California – Sierra Cascade Region, Karen Goodwin, Michelle Buran, and Carol Welty from Sierra Cascade Nutrition and Activity Consortium (SCNAC). Local news stations KHSL/KNVN and the Enterprise Record covered the story.

Richard Roth was awarded the Healthy Hero Award for his outreach and volunteer work to the Chico and Oroville community. He is the founding director of Collaboratively Creating Health Access Opportunities and Service (cChaos), a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating adoption of healthy lifestyles and patterns and working with schools and community service organizations. His passion is to improve the nutritional status of low-income populations, which led to the development of two farmers’ markets in the poorest neighborhoods of Oroville and Chico. These are the only markets in the area that accept EBT. Thanks Richard for all your hard work!

On Thursday, September 24 Jeremy Miller of the Chico Food Network received the Healthy Hero Award from the Network for a Healthy California—Sierra Cascade Region. The Network surprised Jeremy during the Sierra Cascade Nutrition and Activity Consortium’s Bi-Annual Partnership meeting. Jeremy Miller was recognized because his multi-faceted outreach and volunteer work. He is truly an asset to the Chico community. He has donated countless hours to support and promote school and community gardens. His networking skills and creativity have made him successful in building relationships, starting “garden swaps,” and bringing attention to the importance of gardening and living green. During Spring of 2008 Jeremy helped to provide direction and focus to the new McManus School Garden and Campus Greening project. His vast experience in garden design was demonstrated when he prepared and presented his 3 Phase Plan to the Garden Team in January 2008. According to Carol Welty, Nutrition Education Specialist, with SCNAC “Jeremy’s pleasant attitude and can do spirit are a blessing to work with and to be around.”

On May 24^th Ashley Hamm and Jennifer McClendon from the Network for a Healthy California—Sierra Cascade Region and Carol Welty from Sierra Cascade Nutrition and Activity Consortium (SCNAC) surprised Terry Gildersleeve with a Healthy Hero Award.

Terry was awarded the Healthy Hero Award for her energetic efforts in educating the students at McManus Elementary on the importance of daily physical activity and eating fruits and vegetables. For the last two years Terry has worked with SCNAC to distribute interactive nutrition and physical activity education materials to the teachers and students at McManus. She also created a fruit and vegetable center in the staff lounge and encourages choosing healthy options. Terry championed the Governor’s Challenge (www.calgovcouncil.org) at McManus, enrolling students and updating their progress online. The Governor’s Challenge is for California youth to be active for 30-60 minutes a day at least 3 days a week for 4 weeks in addition to regularly scheduled physical education classes. McManus Elementary was in first place in the Sierra Cascade region when Terry was awarded. At the end of the competition, McManus Elementary tied three other schools with a 100% completion rate! Thanks Terry for all of your hard work!

Ray Prigmore, manager of Redding’s Food Maxx, and his produce staff have been awarded this quarter’s Healthy Hero award for their work promoting healthy lifestyles in Shasta County. Ray was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday, March 28th by Ashley Hamm, Jennifer McClendon and Kim Ames from SCRNN and Jilmarie Seastrunk and Carli Ross of UCCE. Local news stations KHSL/KNVN and KRCR covered the story.

Ray was awarded this quarter’s Healthy Hero award for his generosity and dedication to providing Shasta County residents with fresh fruits and vegetables. Ray and the Food Maxx produce staff have continuously supported the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) program by donating fresh fruits and vegetables. UCCE then distributes the fresh produce to children in the Shasta County Schools, allowing them to taste several different varieties throughout the school year. Thanks goes out to Ray and his produce staff!

On Friday, January 19th the Sierra Cascade Regional Nutrition Network surprised Linda Baker at the Gridley District Office Staff Meeting. As the Director of Child Nutrition for Gridley Unified School District, Linda encourages increased consumption of fruits and vegetables by offering fresh fruits and vegetables with each meal and often introduces new varieties to the students. Linda developed the Healthy Class Parties program where she and her staff provide a fresh baked pizza, a fruit and veggie tray, milk and cookies as a was to promote healthy classroom celebrations. Linda also heads up the Gridley Task Force, which is a group of administration, principals and teachers who all work together to develop the wellness policy and work on improving the health and well being of the district. Linda Baker collaborates with the Sierra Cascade Nutrition and Activity Consortium (SCNAC) to promote nutrition and physical activity. Thanks Linda for all of your hard work!

From left to right (back row) is Susi Younger, Stan Yagi, Debbie Campbell & Ms. Carrot (Lindsay Christensen). The front row is Miler's Club participants Haley McPeek (95 miles), Jarett Royce (100 miles), Alex Valencia (100 miles), Landon Aarstad (95miles), & Michael Bratton (100 miles). Sandy Sphar holding the dog, an employee at Antonio’s , checked off the miles for the children as they came around the track during recess.

Stan Yogi; Owner of Antonio’s Restaurant; Susi Younger; a teacher at Alturas Elementary School; and Debbie Campbell; an Alturas Elementary School Administrator; were awarded as this quarter’s Healthy Heroes for their proven dedication to challenge the students of Alturas Elementary School to increase their daily physical activity. The three formed a partnership to sponsor classroom competitions that award prizes to the classes that earns the most points accumulated by each mile walked over the coarse of the school year. Originally started as a way to reduce student’s behavioral incidences, the Milers Club has turned into a great way to motivate the children to be active!

Sherrie Brookes of Shasta County Public Health Department presents Jodi Humble, far left, with the Healthy Hero Award at a Kid Fit event in Burney on June 21, 2006.

Through grant funding from Shasta County Public Health and in partnership with Tri County Community Network, Jody is able to bring the Kid Fit Summer Fitness Challenge Program to the Burney community for the second summer session. Youth are encouraged to complete daily physical activities logs for a chance to win prizes at weekly community events. The program has been very successful in getting youth active, encouraging family participation and in gaining community support.

Gina Simms, the 5 a Day Power Play! Campaign Coordinator, nominated Tamina Carver for the Healthy Hero Award. She wrote, “Tamina spearheaded the Nutrition Services Team at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital to create a new pediatrics menu offering healthy recipes from the 5 a Day Power Play! Cookbook and distributing free jump ropes and hacky sacks to their pediatric patients. She is a passionate promoter of the 5 a Day message, helping to motivate others to make healthy changes in Tehama County and beyond!”