Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
More than 5,000 4H youth, volunteers, Michigan State University Extension staff members,
and their families filled the MSU Breslin Center, the reason? To cheer on the Spartan’s
women’s basketball team to celebrate MSU Extension’s 4H youth development program and to highlight MSU Extension in
4H’s health and nutrition programming. One such program is Jump Into Foods and Fitness,
better known as JIFF. JIFF is Jump Into Foods or Fitness, it is
a curriculum that was developed here at MSU. It encompasses food safety, nutrition, and
physical fitness combined into one to sort of teach you about making healthier choices,
healthier decisions, and eating habits, and also physically active each day.
Teaching youth about health and nutrition so they can learn to eat right, stay physically
fit, and become healthier adults is a message that Walmart one of the event’s sponsors
is trying to promote. This past year we’ve been working on a grant
through Walmart and National 4H counsel that focuses on fitness and safety, so as we think
about the four “H”s of 4H and health being one of them, this has been a natural fit.
Walmart and the American Taekwondo Association co-sponsored the purchase of 4,000 child ID
kits which were given away at the child safety booth. Kids participated in self-defense demonstrations
and learned how to make smart food choices. It became a natural partnership to marry up
what we do with 4H and youth development, the work we’re doing with healthy living,
and fitness and safety with Walmart and the American Taekwondo Association and they agreed
to be a partner with this event here at the Breslin Center today and helping to get child
safety information out to our 4H families and everyone that came today and help to get
that message of fitness safety out there. And why is so important to reach kids at an
early age? If you start at an early age with them and
teach them and give them the tools they need to make healthier choices about eating, to
make healthier choices about working out, they become healthier adults. As you know
our state leads in childhood obesity, type one diabetes is on the rise with youth, obesity
is up and these are things and measures that we take and give to the community and educate
the youth on to become healthier adults.