Austin Foundation

Name of Organization: Harden County Healthy Carolinians

Street Address/P. O Box: 346 Dixon Blvd.

City: Shelby State: NC

Zip: 28150

County: Cleveland


Name of contact person: David Allen

Title of contact person: Health Promotion Director on School Board

Phone number: 704-482-8745

Name of project: Growing Bodies & Minds

Geographic area and/or target population served: Cleveland County middle school students




Project Dates: August 25
th
2014- May 25
th
2014


Amount requested: $3,796.05



Signature of Authorized Agency Representative: Brooke Lutz

Date: 2/20/14


1. Describe the organizations mission, goals, programs/services.

The Harden County Healthy Carolinians was formed in 1998 as one of 5 pilots across the state.
Healthy Carolinians works in partnership with other area agencies such as District Health
Department, Social Services, Project on Aging, and Health and Hunger Coalition. The mission of
Healthy Carolinians coalition works to improve communication, identify, obtain, and more
efficiently distribute resources, and more effectively utilize partnerships to improve health and
quality of life in Harden County. Some of the services and programs we have provided are getting
involved with 2
nd
and 9
th
grade health fairs at schools and community and worksite health screenings.
Healthy Carolinians has also received awards for Sun Safety for middle school children and
received recognition from the North Carolina Cooperative Extension for work in physical activity
and nutrition.




















2. Provide a description of the project including key strategies, timeline for project.

Through the Growing Bodies & Minds program, students at Cleveland County middle schools
will learn how to grow a garden, work with others, and incorporate more physical activity by
learning how to plant and dig up vegetables and fruit. As well as offering the schools fresh foods
for kids, and to learn to eat more nutritious types of foods. Gardening can help meet the
moderate-intensity physical activity recommendations, as well as offer fresh, nutritious produce.
This will be a nine month program during the 8
th
grade year, three times a week during the
school day. There will be trained gardeners who will be teaching the students on how to plant the
foods, teaching them about the nutritious value.

The Program start date is August 25
th
2014 and will end May 25
th
2015. Once recruited Healthy
Carolinians will provide training to the gardeners this summer before the school year starts. Pre-
and post-surveys will be developed to assess if the gardening class increases there consumption
of fruits and vegetable, if it will increase physical activity, and if the school overall increases its
serving of fresh fruits and vegetables.













3. Describe the program/need that the program will address.

Cleveland County is a small community about an hour away from the city of Charlotte. In 2010
there were 37,698 households out of which 22.8% had children under the age of 18 living with
them. Among these children, ages 2-18 were overweight and 23.3% was considered obese as of
2009. In 2010 surveys of children 9-14 students spent an average of 28 minutes a day doing
moderate to vigorous activity. The number of children ages 10-14 was 7,305. In the south, the
schools tend to focus the budget more on sports programs instead putting it towards food for the
kids. They are getting the minimum amount of nutrients in their meals.

In Cleveland County, 12.7% of children 2-18 years of age are at risk for being overweight
(>+85
th
to <95
th
percentile). 102 at-risk, low-income middle school students found 20.6% at risk
for overweight and 37.3% overweight; 10% had not participated in 20 minutes of physical
activity for the preceding week (Alliance Survey of CIS). With this grant Harden Healthy
Carolinians will be able to change childrens minds about the way they think of food, and that
school gardening, combined with a healthy lunch program or nutritional education, encourages
more healthful food choices.














4. List the overall goal (s) of the program.

To increase health of Cleveland County Middle School students by helping students become
more fit and healthy
To increase health of Cleveland County Middle School students by increasing consumption of
fruits and vegetables
To increase health of Cleveland County Middle School students by getting them to spend more
time active in the outdoors and start choosing healthy foods over junk food




5. List the objectives. These should be measurable.

1. By May 25
th
, 2015, 50% of students in program will have participate in Growing Bodies
& minds
2. By May 25
th
, 2015, 75% of students will be able to plant their own fruits and vegetables

3. By May 25
th
, 2015, at least 60% of the students will have increased their fruit and
vegetable consumption to 3-5 servings per day.
4. By May 25
th
, 2015, at least 50% of students will have shown more willingness to be more
active.






6. List the strategies you will utilize to reach the program objectives.

1. Talk to school boards of Cleveland County about the benefits of Growing Bodies & Minds
2. Print pre-and post-surveys
3. Form Garden Committee
4. Create Budget
5. Set vision and goals
6. Design the garden
7. Plan year round calendar
8. Have different plants grown for different seasons
9. Set a date for groundbreaking
10. Administer pre survey and compile data
11. Have weekly quizzes on plant information, nutrition, and physical activity
12. Also have tests once a month
13. Administer post-survey then collect all of the data
14. Report success of program to school board














7. State how, when, and by whom an evaluation will be conducted including any reports
that will be compiled and how the evaluation will be used for program improvements.

Healthy Carolinians and Cleveland County middle schools will evaluate the Growing Bodies &
Minds program to determine whether it met the desired objectives. Evaluations will include:
Documentation of number of students that went through gardening class
Pre- and post- surveys to assess behavior towards fruits/vegetables, their overall interest in
being more activity, and how the school uses the food grown from the students before and
after the program.

Upon the completion of Growing Bodies & Minds, a summative evaluation will be compiled to
evaluate the overall effectiveness of the program. The results will be reported to the school board,
parents, and community by an announcement in the Shelby Star and schools websites.
















8. If the program will be continued after the funding period, please specify source of
funding and commitment of your agency.
The schools of Cleveland County are prepared to do whatever it takes to keep Growing Bodies &
Minds up and running. This feat will be accomplished by conducting school fundraisers to
support paid garden coordinator positions, education foundations, and school improvement funds.
A grant from the Cleveland County Health Department is already on the table for $12,000
because they want the program to increase in size to show the importance of healthy eating for
kids. The high schools and Cleveland county are also willing to help with up keep by giving
middles schools recycled items they might need. We have also spoken to a few small garden
supply stores that are going to make part of their proceeds go to the program and also give the
schools a 10% discount for seeds/mulch/fertilizer. If Growing Bodies & Minds continues to be
success then we would like to expand the program into the high schools of Cleveland County.







Budget Sheet

Project/program Budget Year (s): August 25
th
2014- May 25
th
2015

Total amount of request: $3,796.05

Item Item cost/amount needed Total amount

In-kind materials

Seeds $2.99(15) x 3 $134.55
Seed Trays $2.00(15) x 3 $90.00
Fertilizer $16.00 x 6 $9

Total In-kind request
$233.55


Funding request


Storage shed $469 x 3 $1407.00
Mulch $9.00 (four bags) x 3 $27
Gardening books $15 x 75 $1,125.00
Trans planter $3.97(25 per school) x 75 $297.75
Shovel $9.97(25 per school) x 75 $747.75
Soil $64(2 beds per school) x 3 $192
Garden beds $0(recycled wood from
school)
$0
Hoses or sprinkles $0(use hose school already
had)
$0
Tables and benches $0 (use tables and benches
school already has)
$0
Compost bin $0 (recycled wood) $0







Total requested

$3,796.05