In its 24th year, GYSD engages millions of young people via partnerships with schools and community and faith-based organizations. Projects will occur in more than 100 countries and all 50 states, and will address the most challenging local, national and global issues facing the world including health, literacy, childhood hunger and the environment.
Home economics teacher Suzanne Nozaki of Pahoa High & Intermediate School has received a $1,000 UnitedHealth HEROES Grant from Youth Service America (YSA) and UnitedHealth Group for her Eat Your Lawn program.
UnitedHealth HEROES grants support youth-led service-learning initiatives addressing childhood obesity, healthful food choices and active lifestyles.
One of 282 grant recipients nationwide, Nozaki’s program includes activities which help youngsters to improve their food choices, as well as enable them to produce healthful food at home.
The program’s kickoff activity involved presenting six classrooms of first- and second-graders and two school health aides with hanging strawberry planters. Home economics classes will coordinate strawberry smoothie presentations for these classes, where keiki will learn nutritional tips and take a “Hawaii 5210” pledge to make healthy choices.
As a culminating event, elementary and home economics students will receive strawberry plants to take home so they can begin to “eat their lawns.”
“With a little TLC each day, the youngsters will see new growthâ both in their plants as well as within themselves,” said Nozaki. “They will learn to make good food choices and to also grow healthy food at home.”
The semester-long initiative began nationwide on Martin Luther King Day and culminates on Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) on April 20, the day of the world’s largest and longest-running youth-led service campaign.
“These grants were extremely competitive, and the ‘Eat Your Lawn’ project exemplifies service-learning and the UnitedHealth HEROES program,” said Steve Culbertson, president/CEO of YSA. “Young people in Pahoa want to make a difference, and UnitedHealth Group, in conjunction with YSA, offers them resources to make a positive, measurable impact on their community.”
In its 24th year, GYSD engages millions of young people via partnerships with schools and community and faith-based organizations. Projects will occur in more than 100 countries and all 50 states, and will address the most challenging local, national and global issues facing the world including health, literacy, childhood hunger and the environment.