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More than 150 volunteers from 25 South Bay organizations tended to nine elementary school gardens in Hermosa and Redondo Beach for Beach Cities Health District’s (BCHD) second annual Beach Cities Volunteer Day. This year, volunteers helped plant, harvest and weed each of the LiveWell Kids gardens. All harvested produce was donated to local food banks. The gardens are part of BCHD’s LiveWell Kids childhood obesity-prevention program that provides hands-on gardening and nutrition lessons to elementary school students. LiveWell Kids launched in 2005 in response to an alarming 20 percent obesity rate among Redondo Beach elementary school students. Today, thanks to a steady diet of LiveWell Kids programming in every Redondo Beach elementary school, the obesity rate has fallen to just 7.8 percent. BCHD works with Hermosa and Redondo Beach elementary schools to provide LiveWell Kids programming to 6,000 students. The LiveWell Kids curriculum is delivered in the classroom or school garden by trained garden volunteers. The program blends nutrition lessons and regular physical activity with mindfulness practices and garden education to help students adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors and habits at an early age. The program also offers students increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables through the school gardens. Before summer break, students planted fruit and vegetables including, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, pumpkins and arugula. When the 150 volunteers arrived to the gardens, everything was ready for harvest. Volunteers picked what was ripe, planted new plants and cleaned up overgrowth. When students come back to their beloved gardens in a few weeks, they will be able to harvest the next round of fruits and vegetables for their fall lesson. The LiveWell Kids program wouldn’t be possible without the help from Volunteer Day and the garden volunteers who maintain them year-round. Thank you to this year’s participating organizations: 123 Home Care 24Hr HomeCare Always Best Care Assembly member Al Muratsuchi, 66th District Behavioral Health Services BLND Public Relations Brown's Green Thumb California Water Service City of Hermosa Beach Da Vinci Science Key Club Fishing with Dynamite Immortal YOU Foundation Iota Kappa Chi- El Camino Compton Center Kincaid’s Kiwanis Club of Hermosa Beach Leadership Hermosa Beach Leadership Redondo Manhattan Beach Post Palos Verdes Garden Club Prosum Sand Spa South Bay Credit Union Ten Thousand Villages The Arthur J Women’s Club Redondo Beach For more information, or to get involved in LiveWell Kids programming, visit BCHD.org/LiveWellKids.
More than 150 volunteers from 25 South Bay organizations tended to nine elementary school gardens in Hermosa and Redondo Beach for Beach Cities Health District’s (BCHD) second annual Beach Cities Volunteer Day. This year, volunteers helped plant, harvest and weed each of the LiveWell Kids gardens. All harvested produce was donated to local food banks.
The gardens are part of BCHD’s LiveWell Kids childhood obesity-prevention program that provides hands-on gardening and nutrition lessons to elementary school students. LiveWell Kids launched in 2005 in response to an alarming 20 percent obesity rate among Redondo Beach elementary school students. Today, thanks to a steady diet of LiveWell Kids programming in every Redondo Beach elementary school, the obesity rate has fallen to just 7.8 percent.
BCHD works with Hermosa and Redondo Beach elementary schools to provide LiveWell Kids programming to 6,000 students. The LiveWell Kids curriculum is delivered in the classroom or school garden by trained garden volunteers. The program blends nutrition lessons and regular physical activity with mindfulness practices and garden education to help students adopt healthy lifestyle behaviors and habits at an early age. The program also offers students increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables
through the school gardens.
Before summer break, students planted fruit and vegetables including, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, pumpkins and arugula. When the 150 volunteers arrived to the gardens, everything was ready for harvest. Volunteers picked what was ripe, planted new plants and cleaned up overgrowth.
When students come back to their beloved gardens in a few weeks, they will be able to harvest the next round of fruits and vegetables for their fall lesson. The LiveWell Kids program wouldn’t be possible without the help from Volunteer Day and the garden volunteers who maintain them year-round. Thank you to this year’s participating organizations:
123 Home Care
24Hr HomeCare
Always Best Care
Assembly member Al Muratsuchi, 66th District
Behavioral Health Services
BLND Public Relations
Brown's Green Thumb
California Water Service
City of Hermosa Beach
Da Vinci Science Key Club
Fishing with Dynamite
Immortal YOU Foundation
Iota Kappa Chi- El Camino Compton Center
Kincaid’s
Kiwanis Club of Hermosa Beach
Leadership Hermosa Beach
Leadership Redondo
Manhattan Beach Post
Palos Verdes Garden Club
Prosum
Sand Spa
South Bay Credit Union
Ten Thousand Villages
The Arthur J
Women’s Club Redondo Beach
For more information, or to get involved in LiveWell Kids programming, visit BCHD.org/LiveWellKids.