Press Releases

MONTEREY, Calif. - February 22, 2006 - Healthy Eating Lifestyle Principles, Inc. (HELP), a Monterey County nonprofit organization working to combat the obesity epidemic and encourage increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, is offering 22 regional school districts free assistance in meeting a federal mandate to enact wellness policies. The federal mandate stipulates that every school district in America adopt a wellness policy by June 30, 2006.

HELP's Wellness Policy Toolkit is now available online at www.helpunited.org. The Toolkit-together with HELP's program development services and human resource assistance for district wellness councils-constitutes a tri-countywide strategy and unified approach to nutrition and wellness, which school districts can use to comply with the requirements of the mandate in a timely manner, moving into actual program implementation by Fall 2006.

The Wellness Policy Toolkit is the primary resource being used by regional school districts participating in HELP's Wellness Policy Parity Program. HELP has been working with school districts in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties over the past year, offering the Toolkit and free workshops for wellness councils at no charge to participating districts. "Our goal is to make nutrition education, physical activity, and personal wellness part of all school curricula, and to help support and implement these programs," said Executive Director Mike Pippi.

The Toolkit contains best-practice sample wellness policies, implementation schedules, legislative information, policy guidelines from the California Department of Education, templates for letters to teachers and parents to communicate the policies, and healthy fundraiser suggestions. Other resources include the Monterey County Child Obesity Study, a manual for understanding soda industry contracts, and wellness policy assessment and evaluation forms.

The Toolkit was created by a team of partner agencies brought together by HELP, including the Monterey County Office of Education, the Monterey County Health Department, Alisal Union School District, Cal State Monterey Bay's Farm To School Partnership, the National Steinbeck Center, Monterey County Boys and Girls Clubs, and the 5 A Day program. The online version of the Wellness Policy Toolkit-and a companion CD distributed to all teachers, wellness council leaders, and regional superintendents-was funded by a grant from the new AT&T, with additional support from the Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System and the Monterey County Office of Education.

For more information on HELP's Wellness Policy Toolkit and Parity Program, please contact Mike Pippi at 831-372-361 or visit www.helpunited.org.

HELP is a nonprofit organization working to combat the obesity epidemic and encourage consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. HELP promotes healthy eating and physical activity in our schools and in our community, offering free nutrition education classes and wellness programs and tools to schools, businesses, and public service agencies throughout Monterey County. HELP was originally established as part of the Grower-Shipper Association Foundation under the Monterey County Office of Economic Development and Monterey County Business Council's C2 Competitive Clusters Initiative. For more information, please contact Mike Pippi, Executive Director, at 831-372-3616 or visit www.helpunited.org.