PEMBROKE — At September’s session of Renfrew County Council, Chair of the County of Renfrew Social Services Committee Councillor Debbie Robinson was pleased to announce the launch of the Healthy Kids Community Challenge.
The county, in partnership with the Renfrew County District Health Unit, will receive up to $825,000 in provincial funding over a three year period. The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care is funding the initiative that focuses on community-led programs that see partners from different sectors working together to implement sustainable activities, and programs and policies to improve the health and activity levels of children.
“I am excited to launch this program,” said Dipika Damerla, associate mnister of Health and Long-Term Care. “The idea is to get kids to learn healthy habits from an early age. Good habits learned in childhood will serve them well throughout their lives.”
Approximately every nine months, the province will provide a theme to direct the efforts of the local Healthy Kids Community Challenge team. The themes will promote aspects of healthy eating and active living for children. The overall initiative will also partner with local municipalities, school boards, licensed childcare facilities, recreation departments, NGO’s and local businesses. By having several partners across a broad sector the focus will remain local in focus and leverage local resources.
Chair of the County of Renfrew Social Services Committee, Debbie Robinson shared, “This funding from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care will provide the means for us and our partners to rise to the challenge and really make a significant and lasting impact on children across Renfrew County.”
Judy Mulvihill, Manager of Child Care Services for the County of Renfrew and Project Co-Chair for the Challenge, expressed this sentiment “We want to reach out to all the communities in our County, to gather their themes, programs and ideas that are working. By combining these successful practices and sharing them County wide, the benefits will reach as many children in our County as possible.”
The first theme is “Run. Jump. Play. Everyday.” and the first local initiative to support this theme is called the Chalk Challenge where communities will be encouraged to chalk their paved play areas to foster creativity, high levels of community involvement and spirit, while including physical activity and fun! The partner organizations that participate are encouraged to submit their activity pictures or videos via email or Facebook to the County of Renfrew Healthy Kids Community Challenge page. Prizes will be awarded to the community or partner organization based on the impact of the activity.
To find out more information about the Healthy Kids Community Challenge please email at [email protected] or on Facebook at Healthy Kids Renfrew County.
