The LESD Wellness Program promotes healthy choices for our students and families. We partner with parents, teachers, staff, administrators and students to help support healthy attitudes and environments throughout the district. We are active in school gardens, participate in afterschool and evening events, and offer nutrition education classes for parents and students.
Through community partners, private and government support, LESD has been championing healthy lifestyle initiatives since 1994. Currently, the LESD Wellness Program is receiving support and providing education through the following initiatives:
CalFresh Healthy Living (formerly known as Champions for Change) provides parent and student nutrition and gardening lessons at all LESD schools and the surrounding community including the cities of Hawthorne and Inglewood. This initiative encourages and empowers students and families to make healthier choices and be more active. The program also hosts produce distribution to families within Lawndale!
The Harvest of the Month (HOTM) is a program run in partnership by LESD Food Services and LESD's CalFresh Healthy Living team. The HOTM Program highlights a different in season California grown fruit or veggie during most months of the school year. We host recess & lunch time taste tests to introduce these items to students, and then offer that month's harvest on the salad bar twice a month. We change the items featured in the program on an annual basis.
Produce distributed in May at our Anderson distribution.
CalFresh Healthy Living hosts produce pick-ups across all LESD school sites.
During the 2023-24 school year, they distributed over 30,000 lbs of produce and reached over 10,000 individuals. Interested in volunteering at our events? Reach out to Delyla, Project Coordinator!
CalFresh Healthy Living partners with Food Access Los Angeles to host nutrition lessons at Anderson, Mitchell, and Smith Elementary. The lessons are hosted in Spanish and you can find the flyers below for upcoming lessons.
Youth Participation Action Research or YPARis an innovative approach to positive youth and community development in which young people are trained to conduct systematic research to improve their lives, their communities, and the institutions intended to serve them.
During the 2023-24 school year, the CFHL team worked with Rogers Middle School leadership students and fact sheets about their projects can be seen below:
The Smarter Lunchroom Movement is a low-cost or no-cost initiative that promotes healthy eating choices for students in the cafeteria. The flyer below summarizes the strategies implemented for the 2023 - 2024 school year.
The Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) school-based program is designed to help children develop the knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy to make healthy choices about diet and physical activity. The program includes nutrition education materials, such as snack activities, and physical activities to create excitement about health, wellness, and physical activity. CATCH is implemented by after-school RAP staff and is great for encouraging healthy eating and active eating.
