Synopsis:Kids in the Kitchen - Junior League International, Junior League Phoenix
By now, the statistics are common knowledge, but they still startle: The Center For Disease Control and Prevention states approximately 12.5 million American children between ages 2 and 19 are considered obese, and obesity among children and adolescents has almost tripled since 1980. Junior League Phoenix, a member of the all-woman Junior Leagues International, Inc., plans to change those stats with a couple different community programs.
“Our goal for Arizona is building a healthy Arizona,” said spokeswoman Norma McCormick. “So we’re looking at projects that need assistance with this. Junior League partners with other projects to help them become sustainable. We’ll offer finances and volunteer hours. Once it gets off and running on its own, then we pull back and get involved in another project.”
McCormick mentioned two projects the Junior League Phoenix is currently involved with. Kids in the Kitchen re-educates kids on their eating habits by teaching kids how to make a healthy snack, how to make better food choices when they’re at school or in the cafeteria, how much of each category in the Food Pyramid they should include in their daily meals, and the importance of exercise. This year, JLP is doing ongoing weekend sessions during the school year at Girls and Boys Clubs so they can get quantitative figures.
“We’re just trying to educate the kids about how they can make better food choices” McCormick said. “We want it to be fun, but we want it to be healthy for them, too. We try to encourage them to participate in 45 minutes of low-key, fun exercises to promote a healthy lifestyle. So many kids have lost the exercise capability because they don’t have the freedom to go out and play. They either don’t feel safe, or their folks aren’t there to monitor them. So what’s happening is, kids aren’t getting the activity they need.”