Health & Wellness Challenge
presented by
Each of the select groups that have been invited to participate in the second-annual Health & Wellness Challenge are non-profits that are effectively addressing the childhood obesity epidemic that threatens our nation’s youth.
On race day these groups will come together to generate awareness and needed funds for their worthy initiatives.
Believing that everyone can be a star by making a difference in the lives of children, NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott founded All Stars Helping Kids in 1989. Since then, the organization has been a galvanizing force and a vehicle for individuals and corporate sponsors to invest in the future of children and our communities.
Children's Discovery Museum
The purpose of Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose is to serve the needs of children, families and schools as a center for learning and discovery. For children, it is first and foremost a place to call their own, offering interactive exhibits and programs in a warm and inviting setting. Its educational mission encompasses the themes of Connections, Community, and Creativity. In its unique environment, children actively make connections among ideas, people and cultures. The Museum's programs also encourage children to define their role in and contribution to both local and global communities. Finally, as a center for creative play and expression, Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose provides opportunities for all of us to discover the world through the eyes of our children.
Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County
Girl Scouts of Santa Clara County was chartered in 1961 with a mission to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place. We serve almost 15,000 girls, with an adult volunteer membership of 8,400, in Santa Clara County. Girl Scouting is designed to give girls the opportunity to discover, connect, and take action. Through asset-based programming, we now reach 1 in 10 girls in Santa Clara County.
Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA)
Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is transforming youth sports so sports can transform youth. PCA leads a national movement to ensure a positive, character-building environment for all youth athletes. PCA's group workshops for youth sports leaders, coaches, parents and athletes help them win on the scoreboard and by learning life lessons through sports.
The mission of Sports4Kids is to support and create youth sports and recreational opportunities to enhance the health and well-being of youth and communities. Because of budget cuts, public elementary school students get, on average, only 45 minutes of physical education per week. Furthermore, recess and lunchtime activities tend to be unstructured, and the absence of constructive sports programming makes these periods the highest concentrated times for discipline problems. Sports4Kids works with local elementary schools to provide sports programming both during school and after school. Programs emphasize skill-based (as opposed to competitive) sports activities. We believe that positive sports programming helps kids of all ages and abilities to learn basic athletic skills, gain body awareness, build self-esteem and confidence, develop social skills and make friends.
YMCA of Santa Clara County Teen Fit Club
The core objective in our "Teen Fit" Club is to offer alternative healthy standard of living for our community teenagers. Empowering our teens through education and physical preparation- presenting them with the necessary resources to manage their own personal health. T-Fit is about informing teenagers of the importance and consequence of choices that they make as regards to health, i.e. eating, sleeping, and exercise practices. Our intentions are to make physical fitness, fun, engaging, and accommodating to all of the teenagers we serve.
Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative (BAWSI)
The Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative (BAWSI) seeks to build an environment in which girls and women become and remain an integral part of the Bay Area sports culture. According to Founder Marlene Bjornsrud, “We plan to send a very clear message about the importance of health, fitness and mentorship for kids in today’s world. The Dean Karnazes Silicon Valley Marathon partnership gives us a wonderful opportunity to generate awareness for our mission.”
Fit for Learning addresses health and nutrition education in the classroom, the school environment, and district policies and practices. The Fit for Learning Resource Guide is a standards-based guide to help teachers incorporate health, nutrition, and physical activity into their classroom lessons. It is also an organizer for teachers, parents, and principals to begin to look at how school-wide environment and practices contributes to student health. In addition, the Fit for Learning initiative includes working with school districts to promote district level policies that will promote healthy eating and physical activity at the school sites.
GOTR is a non-profit organization with programs for 3rd-8th grade girls in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz Counties. The two words that best describe Girls on the Run are "FUN" and "RUN". Every aspect of our program is geared toward helping girls feel good about who they are - physically, emotionally and socially. Our mission is to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime of self respect and healthy living. With this in mind, over a 12-week period, the girls train for a 5k run while learning important life lessons through fun running games and workouts.
Project Cornerstone’s vision is quite simple – to build a web of support around every young person in our community. This web of support includes families, schools, community centers, faith communities and local businesses. Unfortunately, these resources are disconnected from each other and often from children and youth themselves. Project Cornerstone facilitates the connection of the separate parts of the web so that young people can count on individuals and organizations working together to provide them with consistent support and guidance.
Sport 4 Life gives disadvantaged youth an opportunity to develop into successful adults. We are an intermediary organization that connects available resources (social, educational, developmental and monetary) to inner city sport teams serving low-income high at risk youth. Our goals are to lower juvenile crime rates, substance abuse, raise college admissions and promote a healthy lifestyle in the most problematic communities in the Bay Area. We accomplish these goals by enhancing or transforming sport programs into development centers. Our first priority is to address the basic needs of the struggling organization by offering monetary or equipment donation. When this elementary support is met, we then implement programs that will contribute to the children’s development. We believe that the resources to break the cycle of despair in the inner city are in existence. Our job is simply to deliver it to those who are sociologically restricted.
