There are countless obligations and expectations that fall to our educators. The Whole Child model states “Each child, in each school, in each of our communities deserves to be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.” Striving towards these worthy goals requires a tremendous amount of time and energy. Academic achievement, character development, emotional support, safety and security, and healthy lifestyle promotion are the expectations we have of our school communities for our children. It’s little wonder that when asking school administrators to consider taking on new programming, no matter how fantastic that program is, the reaction is often cautious. As the Healthy Kids Coordinator, I can help make it easier for schools to adopt new wellness initiatives. Working with school based teams that include teachers, administrators, support staff, and parents, I provide what is known as technical assistance in the non-profit world.

By offering technical assistance, PAL becomes a resources for schools to help them establish policies and integrate new programming. PAL helps schools with planning and implementing school wellness programming because the research shows is makes a difference. A study by the Centers for Disease Control found that wellness programming in schools is much more effective when technical assistance is part of the implementation. Over the past few years, PAL has helped 17 Spartanburg County schools establish wellness initiatives and we continue to do so. Your support helps us help make schools healthier places for our children to learn and grow. We all do better with a helping hand.