Help Commemorate Child Health Day

Challenge Your Community to Take the Surgeon General’s Pledge

This October 6th marked the 80th anniversary of Child Health Day. A day that is dedicated to raising awareness about childhood health and working to improve it. The theme for this year's Child Health Day is “Eat Healthy and Be Active for a Healthy Future.” This echoes the foundation of the Surgeon General’s Childhood Overweight and Obesity Prevention Initiative, “Healthy Youth for a Healthy Future.”

Child Health Day is a great reminder that parents, caregivers, teachers, school nurses, and all adults who care about children can work together to address a serious health issue: childhood overweight and obesity.

To commemorate the day, We Can!™ encourages community sites to inspire parents and caregivers to help their children make healthy lifestyle choices and to take the Surgeon General’s Pledge. This pledge asks parents and caregivers to commit to helping their children be physically active, make nutritious food choices, and serve as strong role models for maintaining a healthy weight.

Read more about Child Health Day on the Department of Health and Human Services' Web site.

We Can! is Holding a Contest Using the Surgeon General's Pledge

We Can! community sites are invited to participate in an exciting contest to see which of our 900+ sites can gather the most pledges from parents. The pledge asks parents and caregivers to commit to helping their children be physically active, make good food choices, and be good role models in order to help children achieve and maintain a healthy weight.

The top three community sites to gather the most pledges and submit their entries using an online We Can! Activity Form by midnight on October 21 will be awarded the following prizes:

Grand Prize is a choice of ONE of the following:

• We Can! Parent Program Resource and Incentive Pack (includes 50 copies each of the Family Guide and Parent Handbook, as well as 50 pedometers)
• CATCH Kids Club Activity Box and Nutrition Manual
• S.M.A.R.T. Curriculum Binder
• One handheld camcorder to record a Media Smart Youth Big Production

Second Prize is 25 pedometers and 25 youth We Can! wristbands

Third Prize is 15 We Can! T-shirts (size: youth small) and 15 adult We Can! wristbands

Winners will be announced during a We Can! community site and partner call on Wednesday, October 22 at 2:00 p.m. EST. Participants do not need to participate in the call to be eligible to win. Each of the winning sites will also be featured on the We Can! Web site or other promotional materials.

How to Enter

This contest runs until October 21, 2008. All entries must be received by midnight (12:00 EST), October 21. To enter the contest, please do the following:

1. Collect and tally signed pledges.

2. Submit your entry by filling out one of the We Can! Activity Forms that are available online — Curriculum Implementation or Community Event.

3. Please include details about a past or upcoming We Can! curriculum implementation or We Can! community event.

4. Be sure to note the total number of pledges you collect in the space provided for "Additional Information."

More Ways to Get Involved with Child Health Day

In addition to the pledges for parents and caregivers, the Office of the Surgeon General offers pledges and checklists for schools and teachers and communities.

The checklists describe ways that your community can help improve the health of its children and link to We Can! resources for parents and communities.

 

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