Highmark Foundation Helps Children and Families Become Healthy for Life
It’s not often a day goes by that we don’t hear or read about the benefits of a nutritious diet and exercise (and the risks of an unhealthy lifestyle). But in reality, not every person has the tools they need to achieve a healthier lifestyle. Families who are struggling with other issues often put their health on the back burner, and consequently, many children and youth arriving in foster care have health issues due to undiagnosed or untreated chronic conditions.
Through generous support from the Highmark Foundation, Holy Family has launched Healthy for Life, an exciting new initiative to help young people and their families establish and maintain lifelong healthy eating and physical fitness behaviors. From meal planning on a budget to in-home cooking lessons, youth and their families learn how to develop better diets and choose healthy foods and snacks. Through a physical fitness program developed by an expert in the field, they learn how to incorporate regular exercise into their particular environment and lifestyle.
The program works to overcome the barriers to healthy eating faced by youth and families in our In-Community Family Stabilization program. However, because the entire HFI food preparation and delivery system was revamped as a result of this project, everyone who receives their food through HFI’s system receives the benefits of this program, including the Pressley Ridge School for Autism and School for the Deaf, residents of HFI College Preparatory Program, and residents living in group homes on the HFI campus.
We are grateful to the Highmark Foundation for their commitment to making healthier lifestyles an achievable reality for the children and families we serve.
