HEROES Promote Healthy Living
Third-grade students at Saint Benedict Cathedral school in Evansville are channeling their inner heroes while learning to make good choices.
Working alongside their teachers and Master Gardener community volunteers, the students are caring for two garden towers to plant organic foods and herbs in order to enrich student knowledge of healthy lifestyle choices.
St. Benedict School is in its third year of the HEROES initiative program, which stands for Healthy, Energy, Ready, Outstanding, Enthusiastic Schools. The HEROES Initiative is a three-year, school-based health grant provided by Welborn Baptist Foundation. Annunciation Parish’s Christ the King campus and St. John the Baptist School in Newburgh are also local grant recipients from the Catholic education community of the Diocese of Evansville .
Laura Mesker, Senior Health and Nutrition Coordinator at Welborn Baptist Foundation and community, partners with the students and staff to provide community support. She sees value in the projects incorporated by the current participating schools.
“All schools have excellent policies and practices in place that offer a healthy environment for learning in the Catholic faith,” Mesker said. She hopes to see more schools in the Catholic Diocese of Evansville apply for the next round of grants.
The three-year funded initiative focuses on integrating health and wellness into the whole-child development. Schools have incorporated salad bars, exercise equipment and gardens, among many other creative ideas, to enrich student knowledge of healthy lifestyle choices. The program provides technical and financial assistance to schools. More than $250,000 in grants were awarded for the 2016-17 school year to local schools.
The request for proposal process for the 2017-18 school year opens Jan. 6, 2017. For more information and the proposal link, please visit www.heroesinitiative.org.
