The school year is quickly drawing to a close and with it, the end of another successful year for Family & Children’s Service’s (FCS) new in-school volunteer program, Healthy Buddies. To celebrate, students at the four participating Healthy Buddy schools were recently treated to an end-of-year party complete with a variety of healthy snacks, of course! Modeled after FCS’s highly-regarded Reading Buddies program designed to advance childhood literacy, Healthy Buddies partners specially trained volunteers, age 55 and older, with students in the classroom, helping children learn the attitudes and behaviors needed to maintain and enjoy a healthy lifestyle. 

Launched in 2012 in two under-performing Monmouth County schools, Green Grove Elementary School in Neptune and Ocean Avenue Elementary School in Middletown, Healthy Buddies has since expanded to four schools, including Highlands Elementary and Bradley Beach Elementary, with 16 volunteers providing instruction to more than 175 students.

All Healthy Buddies volunteers are trained in the CATCH (Coordinated Approach To Child Health) curriculum, an nationally renowned evidence-based program designed to promote healthy food choices and physical activity. Using pre-approved lessons, students learn about energy balance, the importance of physical activity and GO, SLOW AND WHOA foods. Students are also encouraged to reduce the time spent on their computers and become more physically active. As a result, they are able to identify, practice and adopt the healthy behaviors presented in the lessons and then show success in changing their behaviors. Or as one student enrolled in the program put it: “Go is like apples. Slow is string cheese. Whoa is candy.”

Donna Bartlett, a teacher at Bradley Beach Elementary School who has had the program in her classroom twice, once in fifth grade and now in third grade, says she’s witnessed a real difference in the attitudes of the children who participated.

“It changes their eating habits in subtle ways,” Bartlett says. “They may choose the fruit selection in the cafeteria, or select skim milk over whole milk. And the program has changed my habits as well. The children pressured me to replace my daily diet coke with seltzer. I now model healthier behaviors for them.”

Healthy Buddies success is measured through a surveys given at the beginning and end of each school year by the Program Coordinator, Lisa Schlosser. The survey evaluates each student’s ability to identify GO, SLOW AND WHOA foods; discern the differences between unhealthy and healthy fats and sugars; understand the relationship between food intake, calories, weight gain and an increased risk for diet-related diseases; and the understand the importance of regular exercise in maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Ms. Schlosser says comparisons of last year’s pre- and post-program surveys indicated improvement in most areas.

“For example,” Schlosser says, “In the post-program survey, 79% of students indicated they knew how many total servings of fruits and vegetables should be eaten each day, as compared to only 21% of students who answered the same question in the pre-program survey.”

Like Reading Buddies, Healthy Buddies is the only in-school volunteer program of its kind in Monmouth County. FCS Director of Volunteer Services Samantha White says that distinction is the key to the program’s success.

“Programs delivered during after-school enrichment sessions often put children who are unable to stay after school at a disadvantage,” Ms. White says. “We believe that daytime, school-based curriculum ensures that every child in the targeted grade level receives the knowledge to help them succeed.”

White adds that Healthy Buddies’ unique inter-generational approach to education goes beyond fostering the healthy habits that are essential to future success. It provides appropriate role-modeling for young students, builds confidence and mutual respect, and brings empathy and compassion to a topic sometimes fraught with anxiety and frustration.

If you’re interested in becoming a Healthy Buddy volunteer, contact Lisa Schlosser at 732-222-9111 or apply online!