We have our Healthy Hometown Heroes article-writing winners!
3rd grade - Sydney, who wrote about Mrs Williams, the school nurse.
4th grade - Ann, who wrote about Linda Reneham, a gym teacher
5th grade - Samantha, who wrote about Brent Knowles and Emily Bracken with LifeActive.org
6th grade - Isaiah, who wrote about Marc Marchin, a farmer

Goodwill Williams
Sneezes, band-aids, and albuterol: A day with the school nurse

By Sydney L.A. Ricks

Mrs. Williams, Nansemond Parkway Elementary's school nurse, saves us again. She wants students to eat three balanced meals a day and get plenty of exercise. A nurse for 38 years, she knows what it takes to take care of yourself so that you won't miss school because of sickness. Her family's encouragement helped her to become a nurse, her childhood dream. She wants to help people that have trouble helping themselves. Mrs. Williams use to work in a hospital, but now works in a school. Both the hospital and school serve the same principle she says, "to help care and cure sickness." Why does she do it? "To help students stay in school and get good grades," says Mrs. Williams.

She'll always ask you what's wrong with a smile. Whenever I go to the nurse, Mrs. Williams rescue me from an asthma attack. Her famous words of advice to me are "breathe slowly to take in enough oxygen" while I take my albuterol medicine. It's like she has superpowers, because I follow her advice and feel better in minutes. But she only has one special power, the power of healthiness.

The hometown of Nansemond Parkway Elementary School is lucky to have such a healthy hero. No matter what it is; a scrape, a cut, a cough, or allergies, Mrs. Williams saves the day!

Never "exercise" says P.E. Teacher

By Ann Gough

Springfield, Illinois, Linda Rehehan is a gym teacher who does not exercise with her students, she has fun with them! One of Ms. Linda's responsibilities as a fitness director at Springfield Racquet Club is teaching homeschool gym class once a week. Ms. Linda has been involved in helping people get fit for thirty years. She became interested in fitness because her mom was her gym teacher from the second grade through the eighth grade and she helped out all the time in the gym. It is no wonder she has always been interested in fitness.

The petite and energetic woman is a healthy hometown hero because she is dedicated to fitness. While all the kids are playing in gym class she gets the moms to work out by walking in the neighborhood instead of just sitting and talking. She encourages all her students to try and improve. When a kid says, "I can't do it" she says, "Take I Can't out of your vocabulary and replace it with I will try and improve."

What fitness advice would she give kids? She has quite an answer! Ms. Linda says that if you don't have to practice you are not learning anything. Even champions have to practice and work on improving. She also says that out world has changed. "We are afraid to let kids go outside to play," she says. "That is why we have to teach kids about exercise."

Exercise is not boring when you are having fun. In her P.E. class the most fun thing the kids get to do is play with the giant parachute. They also like playing tug-of-war with a giant fifty-foot rope and balancing on big yoga balls. And while they are having fun they don't even know they are exercising.

Another problem, Ms. Linda says, is that "people eat more food than they should. Food is fuel, we have to figure out what foods make us go best".

We should all play more, eat better and enjoy getting fit like Linda Rehehan, a healthy hometown hero, teaches her students.

A Healthy Supportive Community = Friendship + Healthy Lifestyle

By Samantha Anderson

Last month I had the chance to interview Brent Knowles and Emily Bracken, co-founders and volunteers with the non-profit organization called Life Active. Life Active promotes fitness and healthy lifestyles by providing activity scholarships for youth, encouraging participation in their organized activities and events, and supporting others in their efforts to promote fitness and health in the community. Brent is one of the five founders of Life Active.

Life Active was first thought about when Brent and his friends got together and would bike around and talk. One of Brent's friends said he saw a basketball camp and there was a child who couldn't participate because of funding his parents did not have. They were able to step in a help that child participate in the camp. LifeActive.org now consists of a board and several volunteers that share the same goal. Emily, a volunteer, joined because she wanted to give back to the community and help others. Recently, Life Active members gave a $500 donation to the Madison High School track team. This organization provides funding, scholarships, seminars, training tips, and events to help you interact with the members in the community.

Brent remarked, "When you get your New Year's resolution and you want to lose a few pounds, it's daunting to do it yourself. But, with our club helping you stay fit, doing it in groups makes it easier… Just a game of soccer or ultimate Frisbee can help you stay fit." Emily added, "Doing it with other people gives you motivation and pressure to keep going when you might want to stop." Life Active members are everywhere; professors at BYU-Idaho college, construction and city employers, everywhere!

Rexburg and southeastern Idaho would benefit by using Life Active as an opportunity to enjoy camaraderie while staying healthy. It promotes the formula we need as a community to live a healthy and supportive life: A Healthy Supportive Community = Friendship + Healthy Lifestyle. If we find the right way to enjoy out health, we could enjoy it forever. Those that have it, love it.

Farmers Want Consumers to Know Their Food's Origin

By Isaiah Urieta

My healthy hometown hero is Marc Marchini. Marc Marchini wants people to know where their food comes from. Marc is a Le Girand farmer and he is a member of Young Farmers and Ranchers. They're is a group of people that have to be 18 to 35 to be a member of the California Farm Bureau Federation.

Marc Marchini is 27 years old, and is one of several local growers participating in the Food Check-Out Week. Marchini says, "It's really easy for people to forget where their food comes from". To help to correct that, Marc Marchini spent his Sunday at Raley's Supermarket in Merced, talking to customers about the food he grows on his family's farm. He says "It is important to remind the public that we have a job to do and it is to provide for the local economy". Food Check-Out Week is sponsored by American Farm Bureau and local farm bureaus.

Marchini believes that everyone can eat healthy even on a budget. "Instead of eating a bag of potato chips you can eat a couple slices of cheese or some carrots," he said. He also believes consumers can find out where their food comes from. They can come to Food Check-Out Week. Food Check-Out Week is a positive way to get that point across. Farmers aren't big corporations doing whatever they can to make a profit. They are family farmers who are raising crops and food that go into you body. Marchini says he loved talking with the customers at Raley's Supermarket and believes that growers helped educate the customers. He says "Merced County's economy is based around agriculture, and without a local food supply, people wouldn't be able to live the way they do."

"It is always held of the third week of February because that's the week that average household will have earned enough money to pay for its food for the year," Amanda Carvajal said. Carvajal is the executive director of the Merced County Farm Bureau. "The average United States resident spends about ten percent of his income on food," Carvajal said, "which is drastically lower than other countries."

Growers will be at El Rancho San Miguel, 1950 Yosemite Parkway on Saturday from ten in the morning to one in the afternoon. Free samples of locally grown produce along with information on growers and beef. "We had a good response from people" Marchini said, "It was cool, because in the middle of winter people were interested in what we had to say."