Category Archives: Fitness and Nutrition

Last Minute 5K Prep from Resident Fitness Guru Justin Jones

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The second annual Run for Kids 5k is just 10 days away! For those of you who are unsure if you’re up for 3.1 miles, our resident fitness expert, Justin Jones, offers some tips and tricks for getting ready in a hurry. Use the guidelines to get your workout plan in place, and then be sure to follow us on Twitter (@changeforkids) for the next 10 days. He’ll be tweeting encouragement, advice and helpful reminders. Already excited about the awesome t-shirt you get at the finish line? REGISTER NOW for Run for Kids.

We can’t wait to see you all there!

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Justin Jones leads a class at P.S. 243

SCHEDULE – Try to schedule the workout times for your training now. Over the next ten days, train seven days with three off-days. Get out of bed one morning and see how it feels to do 20 minutes at the gym or go for a jog outside. Maybe try skipping happy hour one day for a workout instead. Invite a friend to train or walk with you. You can base it around a play date and walk or jog together and then play soccer or shoot basketballs afterward.

I tell my students to know what they’re eating and make sure they play every day. I also say, “I hope you’ll be getting better by the next time I see you,” so make sure you pat yourself on the back if you’re able to stick to your commitment or schedule. You could even make a little check-off chart for the next two weeks if that works for you.
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Run for Kids: Family Fun, Community Conscious

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If you’ve been hanging around CFK for a while, you know we devoted last summer to raising funds for fitness and nutrition education at our school in Bed-Stuy. Here’s what all your hard work accomplished.

Over the last eight months, FAN4Kids has become not only a wildly popular program with the students, but an inspiration for the greater P.S. 243 community as well. A group of teachers and administrators launched their own fitness program under the guidance of instructor Justin Jones (with the collective goal of dropping 243 pounds), and Principal Hambright is now installing a salad bar in the cafeteria.

Run for Kids 2010: And they're off! Photo credit: Deb Hymowitz

With all this hubbub over health—and in honor of the upcoming Run for Kids event—we decided to check in with Mrs. Padaya, third grade inclusion teacher and recent fitness convert. She’s added a once-a-week cardio session into her lessons to keep her students alert, and she’s managed to kick a wicked Pepsi habit after weeks of nagging from her students.

WHAT’S A HUMMUS? “My students adore FAN4Kids. All the third graders love when Mr. Justin has them sample healthy foods. Most of them have never tasted green olives, organic bean and corn salsa or hummus (One of my students asked Mr. Justin, “What’s a hummus?”). They even tasted organic whole grain nacho chips, which some said were better than Doritos. Instead of honey buns, some students eat apples. They even bust each other when they see a roll of Oreos in a lunch bag. Mr. Justin has also taught the students how to find healthier foods in the little bodegas that dot our streets like trees. It was a great lesson since there are not Whole Foods or Trader Joes in our area.”

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Mark your calendars! FAN4Kids hits big time on November 18

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Most of the time when we launch a pilot program in one of our schools, it grows slowly—building momentum after several months of successful implementation and tons of feedback from administrators, teachers, students and parents. Not so with FAN4Kids, our new fitness and nutrition program, which came off the starting line at a full out sprint.

Justin Jones leads a rousing warm-up session at P.S. 243

Mike Quinzio managed to catch Ms. Toussaint’s 2nd grade class during their second fitness session with instructor Justin Jones. In addition to a full battery of running skipping, hopping, dancing, leg lifts, stretching and general wiggling, Justin’s lesson plan for the day included some serious strength training. “The kids loved doing the pushups,” says Mike. “It was kind of funny. The girls even more than the boys. Their hair was carefully done, and they were all nicely dressed, but they just knocked out those pushups.”
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Bringing Fitness and Nutrition to Our Schools

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As a direct result of the success of Run for Kids and Ride for Kids this summer, we’re launching a brand spanking new program at P.S. 243 in Bed-Stuy. Here’s the whole story:

PROBLEM

This spring we sat down with our four partner principals to get some feedback and discuss their greatest needs for the next few school years. Some of what we heard came as no surprise—more frequent literacy tutoring, greater access to fine arts education, etc. But the overwhelming responses were heartfelt pleas for fitness and nutrition programs, particularly from Principal Karen Hambright at P.S. 243 in Bed-Stuy. This was an untested area for us, one that would require a new partner to administer the program, new metrics to assess it, and, most significantly, a fundraising push that would allow us to expand our menu of services. In a year when most charities have had to scale back, this seemed like a pretty tall order.

Still, Principal Hambright made a compelling case. Her K-3 students currently receive 50 minutes of gym a week…every other semester. Their newly built playground goes virtually unused. Even more alarming, the students at P.S. 243 suffer from a wide range of health- and diet-related difficulties, including extremely high rates of asthma.

We decided to give it a shot.

RESPONSE

Fortunately, we have a whole slew of volunteers and donors who got on board and got organized. Run for Kids and Ride for Kids this summer broke every budget expectation we had and gave us enough cushion to bring in a good partner to help us in this new venture.


Executive Director of FAN 4 Kids, Rob Oliver, edges FAN 4 Kids instructor Justin Jones at Run for Kids in May

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2nd Annual Ride for Kids

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CFK’s 2nd Annual Ride for Kids kicked off under clear skies and Stacey Griffith’s prediction that “this is just going to be one of those nights—I can feel it.”


Mireya and Sofia D'Angelo with LeAnn and Hannah Waldron in background.

Turns out our own celebrity trainer extraordinaire was right on target; Ride for Kids was a complete and unqualified success, raising more than 35K for programs at our partner schools. And if you’ve been keeping track at home, that would be…yup, 75% MORE than our initial goal for the evening. Absolutely amazing.

If you’ve never taken a class with the unstoppable Ms. Griffith, it might be hard to imagine the energy level in the room. Think somewhere between a late night dance club, an early morning yoga session, and a fabulous happy hour where everyone gets to wear spandex and still look stylish. Even in the midst of what can only be described as level-ten muscle fatigue, CFK’s cyclists were smiling and laughing and generally behaving as though sweating off 10 pounds in an hour was totally routine for a Saturday night in the Hamptons. Chalk it up to exercise-induced delirium if you want, but we like to think we have the best and most enthusiastic supporters in New York.

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CFK Celebrity Sighting Number Two!

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Joe Maloof is mobbed by a crowd of adoring basketball players

Big news from our partner school in Queens. About 200 students, teachers and chaperones from P.S. 160 came out on a hot June day to meet their newest and very coolest neighbor—Joe Maloof, owner of the Sacramento Kings and Palm Casino in Las Vegas. Students spent the day exploring Maloof’s brand new skate park in Flushing Meadows, watching a number of demonstrations from top-skateboarder Billy Rohan, and learning a little about fitness and healthy lifestyles.

After loading the kids with loot from Vans and Vitamin Water, Mr. Maloof was also kind enough to sign dozens of signatures and to take a few minutes to visit personally with the school’s basketball team. If the thank-you notes we received are any indication, we think he’s made 200 new friends for life.

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