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This past June, I had my first opportunity to exhibit and promote our Pink and Dude Chefs nutrition education and culinary skills curriculum at the eighth Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference in San Diego, Calif. The energy among the 50 or so exhibitors — national organizations sharing their wares, ideas and opportunities — filled the large conference hall.

When streams of people came into the hall between presentations and during meals, I had the opportunity to meet many people in public health departments, hospitals, educational institutions, non-profits, governmental agencies and private industry. I shared information on our Pink and Dude Chefs curriculum, and we discussed whether our program could be of benefit to middle school students in their communities. The program received a lot of interest.

Representatives from the local HEAL SLO Coalition and Partners for Fit Youth Coalition also attended the conference — SLO County Department Public Health and Santa Barbara County Public Health, UC Cooperative Extension, Community Action Partnership, and Orfalea Foundation, to name a few. All of these people are working hard to make a difference in the health of our nation’s young people.

In addition to interacting with conference participants, I was able to learn about other exhibitors and their work. I visited with Kathy Chichester from my home state of New Jersey who was representing Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH). CATCH’s work to provide physical activity programming to children is having a positive impact across the country.

Those of us working in health promotion are each other’s coworkers. We are all working toward the same goal of health for all.

 

Stephanie Teaford, Community Liaison
Cal Poly STRIDE
steaford@calpoly.edu