Baptist Health Madisonville awards Project Fit America grant to South Hopkins Middle School
Baptist Health Madisonville awards Project Fit America grant to South Hopkins Middle School
Baptist Health Madisonville awards Project Fit America grant to
South Hopkins Middle School
(Madisonville, Ky.) May 7, 2019 —South Hopkins Middle School has been awarded a $16,756 grant funded by Baptist Health Madisonville to launch Project Fit America, a fitness program aimed at reducing childhood obesity.
Baptist Health Madisonville has invested over $215,000 to provide the fitness program to area elementary schools since their partnership with Project Fit America began in 2014. South Hopkins Middle School will become the first middle school in the area to receive the grant that will provide indoor and outdoor fitness equipment, teacher training and curriculum materials.
This brings the total number of schools to receive Project Fit America grants from Baptist Health Madisonville to thirteen. Previous winners have included West Broadway, Grapevine and Pride Elementary in Hopkins County, Longest and Central City Elementary in Muhlenberg County, Sinking Fork, Freedom, Pembroke and Crofton Elementary in Christian County, Whitesville Elementary in Daviess County, along with Sebree and Clay Elementary in Webster County.
Baptist Health Madisonville Marketing/PR Coordinator Kristy Quinn surprised the principal and physical education teacher of South Hopkins Middle School with a banner to notify them of their winning grant application and said that the students, staff and parents are excited to collaborate with Baptist Health Madisonville and Project Fit America.
“I am excited to become a Project Fit America school,” said Daniel Croft, physical education teacher at South Hopkins Middle School. “I can’t thank Project Fit America and Baptist Health Madisonville enough for this opportunity for my students.”
“This will provide a whole new approach to health and wellness for these students,” Quinn said. “The curriculum is exciting and interactive, and Mr. Croft can't wait to begin using it with his students during these habit-forming years to help foster a love of fitness and movement.”
“At South Hopkins Middle School, we are excited to have this new resource available for our students,” said Principal Jan Richey. “We also hope to promote wellness within the community and family with the excitement that this program brings,” added Richey.
Robert Ramey, Baptist Health Madisonville president said the program exemplifies the hospital’s focus on community health and promoting a healthy lifestyle to prevent chronic medical issues, especially in today’s culture when obesity and its related conditions, such as diabetes, are among our area’s greatest health risks.
“Baptist Health is focused on building a strong foundation of good health in our community,” Ramey said. “We reiterate that dedication to community education and disease prevention with the expansion of the Project Fit America program to help area youth build good lifelong habits for healthy lifestyles.”
“We know childhood obesity can lead to health problems such as high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes,” Ramey said. “We also know children learn better when they are healthy and active. Baptist Health Madisonville and Project Fit America are perfect partners for helping our schools improve our students’ health and thereby improving their academic achievement.”
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About Project Fit America (PFA)
Project Fit America (PFA) is a national (501) (c) (3) non -profit organization that creates and administers exemplary fitness in education programming in elementary and middle schools. Under this umbrella, we address self-esteem, fitness and exercise as fun, understanding their body, as well as, leadership, sportsmanship and character development. The program goal is to reverse the lack of fitness in youth to give teachers the tools they need to teach children to take responsibility for their health and embrace healthy lifestyle choices with enthusiasm. Our mission is to get kids fit and to create programs that assure every child will find something at which they are very good at and inspire them to participate in more fitness activities. We create the opportunity for all kids, not just the already gifted athletes, to discover, explore, improve and to be recognized for their physical, mental and fitness efforts and performance.
The vast majority of our sponsors have been hospitals and healthcare organizations. Since our founding sponsorship drive, we have raised over $15,822,322.00. As of the close of 2018, this has resulted in the development of exemplary fitness programs in over 1,000 schools, 400 cities, 46 states with over 500,000 kids impacted and counting!