PRESS RELEASE: Spot the Block Program Supplements the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education’s Healthy Habits Camp
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – July 21, 2010
Contact: Ann Rollins, CEO
Tel: (919) 23-4006 ext 302/ email: [email protected]
Spot the Block Program Supplements the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education’s Healthy Habits Camp
Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health and the FDA’s “Spot the Block” are teaming up this week!
A Spot the Block education session will be held at the Alice Aycock Poe Center for Health Education for parents and families during the closing ceremony of Healthy Habits Camp for their campers. The session will be held on Friday, July 23 at 4:00pm, which is the beginning of the closing ceremony. Ann Rollins, Interim CEO and Eva Hsu, ICF International, are both very excited that the Spot the Block message coincides so well with the nutrition and healthy habit messages the kids have been learning at Poe’s week-long day camp.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created Spot the Block to educate children to use the Nutrition Facts label to better manage their diets.
The program is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) commitment to help Americans live longer, better, healthier lives by reducing overweight and obesity, poor nutrition and inactivity.
Preventing overweight and obesity in the early years can help young people stay healthy and can help prevent health problems in adulthood. Health education and prevention is the Poe Center’s primary mission. Working together with the Spot the Block Campaign, the Poe Center’s camp is able to help the parents and the children as they learn additional healthy habits.
The Two-Tiered Campaign:
Primary Campaign: Reaching "Tweens" ("in betweens" ages 9 - 13)
Overall Program Strategy: Engage tweens in reading the Nutrition Facts label and using its information in their dietary management choices.
As a companion effort to the Tween program, FDA is developing a complementary Parent Outreach Campaign.
- Parent Outreach Objective: Help parents help their children as they learn to use the Nutrition Facts label.
- FDA and Spot the Block are serving as the parents' partners in helping them help their tweens make wise nutrition choices.
- For updates on Spot the Block Parent Outreach, visit www.fda.gov/Food!
Helping your kids understand how to read the Nutrition Facts Label on food packages is important. After all, the label is a tool for making food choices that they’ll be able to use throughout their lives. And the sooner they begin to Spot the Block, the sooner they’ll be making healthful choices when comparing foods.
The Poe Center is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate and empower North Carolina children and youth to make choices that increase positive health behaviors. Poe’s Healthy Habits Camp is made possible through funding by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Social Services, and the USDA.
Let the Poe Center teach the children and teens at your school or community organization to lead healthier lives.
Visit www.poehealth.org for more information on programs and other opportunities.
Drugs Uncovered Goes to the Dogs…
Not really, but we had two special guests attend our event at the Cary Family YMCA on Wednesday, July 14, 2010. Deputy Smith from the Wake County Sheriff’s Department K9 Unit and his dog Harley came to give participants a demonstration. With this addition to our Drugs Uncovered: What Parents Need to Know program we now have come full circle. The program has always covered prevention strategies in talking with youth about the risks and consequences of drug, alcohol and tobacco use. Intervention resources are also discussed with participants if they know a young person who has already started experimenting with drugs or alcohol. Using the Alcohol Uncovered video and the addition of the K9 Unit demonstration we are able to expand our information of law enforcement and the consequences associated with underage drinking, as well as the use and possession of illegal drugs. Thanks to Deputy Smith and K9 Harley for their help in getting the word out to adults about the consequences for their young people if they get involved with illegal drugs!
The Poe Center Makes an Impact During Healthy Communities Day!
On July 15, 2010, the Poe Center for Health Education provided nutrition and physical activity education and tobacco prevention and cessation messaging to over 500 youth! Joining forces with the Triangle YMCAs, WakeMed, Wake Teen and other community organizations the Poe Center successfully delivered approximately 40 mini-sessions of valuable health education. The participants ranged in age from preschool to high-school and were a very receptive audience. The Poe Center was also very grateful to have the support of volunteers from Meredith College’s Masters of Nutrition Program and Wake TRU (Tobacco.Reality.Unfiltered) youth.