Healthy Harold’s new fund musters support for Murray kids
Wednesday, 1 Jun 2022
School children in the Southern Riverina are learning important health and safety lessons from Healthy Harold the giraffe in his new pop-up classroom, thanks to a fund helping country kids thrive.
Healthy Harold, the popular health education giraffe and mascot of Life Ed, is visiting more than 1000 students from 11 schools along the Murray and Edward River on his ‘Murray Muster’ tour of the region.
For the first time, Healthy Harold will appear in his brand new home – an inflatable classroom designed to deliver engaging and memorable health education in an agile and responsive way to children in regional and remote areas. The classroom fits into the back of a ute and ‘pops up’ in a matter of minutes, making it easy to reach more kids.
Not for profit organisation Life Ed has been delivering health and wellbeing education for over 40 years to more than seven million children across the country with the help of its specialist educators and popular mascot Healthy Harold the giraffe. Through the program, children from preschool to upper primary learn about nutrition, cybersafety, safe decision making, respectful relationships, and social and emotional wellbeing to support their mental and physical health.
Life Ed Australia CEO Kellie Sloane said it is important for all children – no matter their circumstances – to receive health and wellbeing education to set them up for a healthy future.
“Every family and community across Australia should have access to health and wellbeing education. But not all families have what they need to support children’s development and learning in this way. This is why we see such major differences in the health of Australians across the country,”
“Children living in Australia’s NSW and Victorian border communities have been impacted by recent disasters, especially drought and COVID lockdowns. They need our help to thrive and be healthy through these challenging times.
“Thanks to the Life Ed Thrive Children’s Fund, and the support of Woolworths Fresh Food Kids as our foundation partner, we can support country children’s development in the early years, increasing their health and wellbeing, and the success of their communities both now and in the future.”
The visits have been fully funded from the Life Ed Thrive Children’s Fund, which assists children and schools in rural, remote and low socio-economic areas develop fundamental life skills.
Woolworths Fresh Food Kids is the foundation partner to the fund, contributing $125,000, which is helping nearly 8,000 kids across the country to benefit from the Life Ed program.
Woolworths Head of Community & Sponsorships, Sarah De La Mare said, “We’ve been proud partners of Life Ed for four years and are excited to continue supporting their work in south west New South Wales through the launch of Life Ed Children’s Thrive Fund.
“As Today’s Fresh Food People, we’re committed to helping make fresh food more accessible for young Australians and education plays a huge role in kids living a healthier life. We look forward to seeing Life Ed expand its reach to ensure kids are empowered to eat healthy and stay active from a young age.”
To learn more about the Life Ed Thrive Children’s Fund, visit https://thrivechildrensfund.lifeed.org.au.
Sponsored By
Woolworths – Fresh Food Kids
Major sponsor of Australia’s Healthier Lunchboxes, Woolworths - Fresh Food Kids also help spread the word about the importance of a healthy and nutritious lunchbox.
