OCTOBER 13, 2010Local kids run soccer drills with coaches and players from Major League Soccer as part of a monthly Let’s Move! series of activities on the South Lawn of the White House, Oct. 7, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton)As part of the ongoing South Lawn Series, players from the DC United soccer team led the kids in drills and games, showing them just how fun exercise can be.READ MORE
THIS WEEKHappy School Lunch Week and Farm to School Week!We are looking forward to this week as schools will be celebrating their connection to farms and exploring how to add more fruits and vegetables to school lunches. The President issued a proclamation about School Lunch Week today, read it here.The Let’s Move! Initiative is celebrating this week in a number of ways. White House Chefs, Sam Kass and Bill Yosses will be visiting Tubman Elementary, the school they adopted in DC, as part of the Chefs Move to School program. We will film their activities so that you can see steps taken to participate in the HealthierUS School Challenge. Stay tuned for video clips soon. And check out the story about the 65 chefs in Chicago who have adopted schools. We have 1800 chefs involved across the country, but with 100,000 schools nationwide we still need more; sign up for the Chefs program today.
We were busy this past week. On Wednesday, we celebrated International Walk (and Bike) to School Day. Students and families around the nation walked to school that day and here in DC, HHS Assistant Secretary Howard Koh and Shellie Pfohl, the Executive Director of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, walked to school with lots of students. But you don’t need International Walk to School day to walk to school. Pick a day once a week or once a month to walk or bike with your kids to school. If you have to go to work, team up with other parents who can chaperone your kids and create a walking school bus or rolling bike train or if you live too far from school, pick a location near school where you can park your car and walk the last quarter mile. There are lots of creative ways to participate and for more ideas check out the Safe Routes to School Center and join the Safe Routes to School Partnership.
In addition to walking and biking, we need places to play. Check out the blog on building a playground here in DC.
Our South Lawn series continued this week, as part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s desire to open the White House to the American people. On Thursday, Major League Soccer, the U.S. Bid Committee, the U.S. Soccer Foundation and D.C.’s professional soccer teams, DC United and Washington Freedom played with 130 students from the Washington area in soccer drills for 60 minutes with a much needed apple and water break at the end. We had great fun here, so how about you organize a clinic for the kids where you live? All you need is a field, some balls, some adults and a whole bunch of kids willing to move for 60 minutes of play. What are you waiting for?
And don’t forget PALA, the President’s Active Lifestyle Award, 60 minutes five days a week for kids and 30 minutes five days a week for adults. You can do it, sign up today and in six weeks you could get an award from the President.
What are you doing this week to eat healthy and get moving?
Until next week,
Robin
Robin Schepper
Executive Director, Let’s Move! Initiative
FEATURED BLOG POSTSSurgeon General Takes Her Fitness Walks to Mobile, ALPosted by Dr. Regina M. Benjamin, U.S. Surgeon General on October 12, 2010Since becoming Surgeon General, I’ve led fitness walks across the nation – from Baltimore to Los Angeles to the Grand Canyon. But it was a special treat for me when I traveled back to my home state of Alabama to lead a 1.2 mile walk in Mobile with more than 200 residents.
Posted by Dr. Howard K. Koh, Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on October 7, 2010
Yesterday I joined a wonderful group of elementary school students, principals and school staff at Lincoln Park in Washington, DC to celebrate “International Walk to School Day“. Now in its 13th year, this one-day event was part of a global effort in more than 40 countries to recognize the many benefits of walking and bicycling to school and to encourage more families to get out of the car and onto their feet in October.
