MEDIA RELEASE 23 July 2008
Local kids' fitness improves with donation from Capital Region Farmers
Market
The Capital Region Farmers Market and its founder, the Rotary Club of Hall,
recently donated $8,760 to the SmartStart for Kids! Program founded by former
Olympian Robert de Castella. This donation helped to promote better health and
fitness for the students of Narrabundah Primary School.
Capital Region Farmers Market chairman Roger Powell, SmartStart founder Robert
de Castella as well as Narrabundah Primary School principal will be joining
Market stallholders and visitors on Saturday, 2 August from 10 am at Exhibition
Park (EPIC) in Canberra.
Robert de Castella will be discussing the results obtained from the program
undertaken with Narrabundah Primary School. SmartStart will also offer fun
fitness activities and games for children and some fitness assessments and tips
for parents and the whole family.
SmartStart for Kids! is a not-for-profit program that measures and reports on
the health and fitness characteristics of children.
"We are really proud to be supporting such a great local initiative. One of the
Farmers Market's aims is to offer the local community fresh produce for a better
diet, which ties in perfectly with SmartStart's mission to improve these
students' health and fitness," Farmers Market chairman Roger Powell said.
All funds generated from the Farmers Market, which constitutes of approximately
$150,000 every year, are fed back into the Canberra regional community and other
international charities through projects chosen by the Rotary Club of Hall.
Robert de Castella said the Farmers Market donation served to provide all the
children at Narrabundah Primary School with the opportunity to be part of the
Healthy Exercise and Living Program (HELP) which ran through May and June.
"During our first session, we did health and fitness checks with all the
students in the school. We identified children at risk, health wise, and
provided feedback to parents and teachers. We had some discipline issues at
first, but students quickly understood that what we were going to do with them
was actually going to be fun," Robert de Castella said.
"Through this project, all the children at the Narrabundah Primary School were
supplied with pedometers, specially designed physical activity and nutrition
diaries. Two or three times a week, they participated in a whole range of fun,
active and intense play sessions for about one and a half hour. They loved
getting involved!
"The sessions were designed to improve their health, stimulate their fitness
competencies as well as increase their confidence, self-esteem and understanding
about living a healthy active life. At the end of the seven-week program, we
conducted another set of checks to show them how their fitness level had
improved.
"Throughout the program, boys from Narrabundah Primary School have demonstrated
an increase in cardiovascular fitness, power & coordination as well as muscular
endurance, while girls have shown an increase in flexibility, power &
coordination as well as muscular endurance," Robert de Castella added.
The SmartStart for Kids! Program is designed to profile risk, monitor changes in
health, promote good health behaviours and practices and encourage appropriate
self-responsibility in children, their parents and schools so as to improve
health and fitness.
Since its foundation in 1999, SmartStart has conducted its program with about
40,000 students in over 70 schools in the ACT, NSW, QLD and SA.
With Capital Region Farmers Market revenue, the Rotary Club of Hall has been
able to support various local organisations such as the Greenhill Youth Centre,
a Community Pipe Band, SouthCare, the Paediatrics group at the Canberra Hospital
(PaTCH) which makes patchwork quilts for kids in hospital and many more
community organisations. Market funds have even been able to refurbish books for
a primary school in Vanuatu.
The Capital Region Farmers Market is a genuine farmers market with over 100
stalls offering a diverse range of fresh food and agricultural produce straight
from the producer to the customer. It is open every Saturday morning at the
Exhibition Park (EPIC) in Canberra from 8 am to 11 am.
For more information on Capital Regional Farmers Market, visit
www.capitalregionfarmersmarket.com.au.
Released for Capital Region Farmers Market by Dennis Rutzou Public Relations (www.drpr.com.au)
For further information please call Kim Larochelle or Joanna Gitsham on (02)
9413 4244.
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