Dallas-Based Single Mom Forms Non-Profit Raising Nationwide Awareness For Childhood Obesity
Dallas, TX (PRWEB) March 28, 2014 -- "Check the Light Before You Bite!" a Dallas-based non-profit, began working with Dallas Independent School District in November 2013 to launch a healthy eating program geared toward helping children make better food choices. All cafeterias of participating schools label food like a stop light, featuring red, yellow, and green. Green options, the healthiest, are the target selection. Check the Light has pioneered a rewards program for making healthy choices, and since its inception, 38,000 kids have participated in the program, 1,800 of whom have earned tickets to a Dallas Stars game.
Founder and single DISD mom, Tania Boughton secured the relationship with the school district, brought in the Dallas Stars, and over time has incorporated other large sponsors. Best Buy, working in conjunction with Albertsons, supplies a Wii Fit station to winners of a recipe contest, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas offers similar support through a healthy eating essay challenge. Early sponsor Payne Mitchell Law Group provides strategically placed banners in all the schools to remind kids to make healthy decisions.
“We’re thankful to all of our existing sponsors and are excited to announce our newest, Texas Capital Bank. A company that is already ingrained in the community and visibly lending a strong hand toward the betterment of children’s lives, this was a natural fit. The feedback we are getting from kids and parents is exciting, they love being involved in the program and are enjoying family time in the kitchen making new recipes. Our number one goal was to reward kids for making healthier decisions, and the corporate sponsorships have given us the much needed funding to drive the campaign,” says Boughton.
CTL has also recently secured a partnership with the Mayor’s Youth Fitness Initiative to encourage even more involvement and bring other professional teams into the movement. Partnering with the CATCH program, CTL is planning to expand past Dallas into Houston, San Antonio, and Los Angeles in fall 2014. “In the fall we'll be reaching almost two million children in major cities. This is tremendous visibility and we’re always looking to incorporate new sports teams, athletes and sponsors into the program to enable the expansion and replicate our success,” says Boughton.
ABOUT: Check The Light Before You Bite! is a non-profit aiming to bring athletes, teams and corporations to the table in order to raise awareness for childhood obesity and to help empower children to make healthier choices. Their newest campaign with Texas Capital Bank, “Under $5 And 5” is a recipe challenge to simultaneously combat obesity and poverty. All recipes must fit two of three criteria: healthy, under five dollars or under five minutes. The focus of this effort is to create low-cost, healthy meals and dispel the myth that it is expensive to eat healthfully.
In her words, “When parents are telling us they can purchase five hamburgers for less than the price of one salad, it's a glaring problem and something has to be done about it. The new recipe challenge is to combat this exact situation, we want parents out of the drive thru and in the kitchen.”
If you’d like to schedule an interview with Founder Tania Boughton, or to discuss sponsorship opportunities, please email: tania(at)eatinglightdoneright(dot)com. To discover more about the project, visit: http://www.checkthelight.com and http://www.eatinglightdoneright.com. Follow on Twitter, @eatlightright & @_checkthelight for current news and promotions.
Jennifer Trotter, RH Publications, http://checkthelight.com, +1 972-345-0655, [email protected]
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