Kids Learn Healthy Habits From Older Adults

Older adult volunteers that teach children as part of the CATCH Healthy Habits program gathered earlier this month to share experiences and best practices from the fall session just completed.  Teams that instructed children weekly at the Winter Park Community Center, Brookshire Elementary School and the Eatonville Boys and Girls Club joyfully talked about lessons and discussed tips they use to promote healthy eating and increased physical activity with their after-school program participants.

Volunteers divulged  they too had learned new food facts from the nutrition lessons and even commented on feeling as if they’d had a good work out after conducting several of the exercises.  Several of the older adults shared how much they will miss the children since the sessions are not expected to resume until February.

“It was great to see how invested the volunteers are in this program and how much joy it brings them to interact with the young people.  One older adult, a retired teacher, was elated to find this program since she so missed working with kids.  Another mentioned specifically the desire to give back at this time in life and was genuinely thrilled to find this opportunity to share time and talent investing in future generations,” said Diana Silvey, Program Director for the Winter Park Health Foundation (WPHF), funder of the CATCH Healthy Habits Program.

The program is offered through the Rollins College Center for Lifelong Learning and its Volunteers Organized in Community Engagement (VOICE).