By Tricia Pursell
SELINSGROVE — With reports that more than $100 billion a year is spent nationwide treating problems related to obesity, a Valley agency plans to use $55,000 to show Valley families that healthful living can be easy and affordable.
The Union-Snyder Community Action Agency will meet April 19 to discuss how to use the discretionary Community Services Block Grant funds — from the state Department of Community and Economic Development — to provide residents with much-needed nutrition and exercise education.
The money became available around mid-February, when first lady Michelle Obama announced a nationwide commitment to fighting childhood obesity.
The number of overweight and obese children in the Central Susquehanna Valley, at 35 percent for the 2007-2008 school year, is about 2 to 3 percent higher than the state average. One-third of all Pennsylvania schoolchildren are overweight or obese, Don Morabito, chief of staff at the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said in mid-Feburary.
Morabito added that the percentage has doubled in the past 20 years.
“The goal is to help families gain skills that they need to maintain a consistent, nutritious, affordable food supply,” said Robin Barbour, assistant director of the Community Action Agency, Selinsgrove.
This “Healthy Children Network” will involve other agencies such as Action Health, SUM Child Development, Penn State Cooperative Extension, Family Planning, Children & Youth, community centers, food pantries and businesses.
The focus, Barbour said, will be on low-income families and youth.
“We’re educating youth,” Barbour said, “and we’re educating parents.”
The goal is to also educate those who work with families on a regular basis.
Ideas include sending schools and organizations such as Head Start informational packets about body mass index, and teaching latchkey children how to cook safely and nutritionally for themselves.
The network wants to encourage the use of fruits and vegetables in a child’s diet, Barbour said, so it would also like to hold workshops, and maybe even distribute samples of fruits and vegetables and recipes at local food banks.
Special projects and newsletters that focus on healthy families, nutritious eating, exercise and how to get affordable food are also ideas being considered.
The Community Action Agency applied for the grant in December. Some of the money will also be used to cover staff costs.
Barbour said plans are to employee an AmeriCorps worker to implement the project to make sure it continues beyond the length of the grant.
More information is available by calling Barbour at 374-0181.
