Winter Park Health Foundation Awards $300,000 for Health Improvement Projects

The Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF) has awarded its first round of Think~Act~Be Healthy Communities initiative grants totaling $300,000 to nine organizations for projects to improve the health of residents in Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park.

WPHF launched the Healthy Communities initiative in November, 2007 in an effort to inspire community projects that would change the environment and/or culture in ways that encouraged healthy behaviors. Individuals and groups were invited to submit ideas that would promote physical activity, promote healthy eating and reduce tobacco use in the Foundation’s three target communities.

More than 100 ideas were submitted, and of these, 38 were identified as promising and the idea sponsors were invited to complete a formal proposal. The nine projects listed below will receive grant awards.

The selected projects include:

• Installation of Community Bike Racks in the City of Winter Park—$26,390
• Fitness Trail at Lake Island Park in the City of Winter Park—$14,000
• Community Fitness Trail at Lakemont Elementary School—$15,000
• Start-up of a Farmers Market in the Town of Eatonville in partnership with Hebni Nutrition Consultants Inc.—$60,000
• Club FYT (Fitness for Youth and Teens), an after-school health and fitness program by the YMCA at Dommerich and Lake Sybelia elementary schools and Glenridge and Maitland middle schools—$58,896
• The formation of an Interfaith Council on Health, a faith-based partnership of churches in Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park—$60,000
• Community Running/Walking Track and Health Awareness Program proposed by Hungerford Elementary in Eatonville—$29,500
• Way-finding ñ community-based study by Metro Plan Orlando Inc. to assess the need for signs directing the community to places to be active—$20,000
• Super Suppers and Nutrition Education program at the Winter Park Day Nursery — a program offering parents affordable, healthy meals and lessons on how to prepare them—$16,214

For more information on opportunities to engage in the Healthy Communities initiative and other work of the Foundation, continue to watch the Foundationís website at www.wphf.org.