“Empowering children one step at a time”
Exercise and activity are important parts of living a healthy and happy life. This importance is amplified in children who have experienced historic trauma. Exposure to chronic stress at a young age affects brain development in ways that can negatively impact intellectual, social, and emotional development.
There is strong evidence that exercise and increased activity can minimize, and even counteract, the impact of stress on kids as they grow and develop. It has other positive effects outside of mental and social health - including strengthening the muscular, heart, and lung systems of kids.
Put simply, being active is one of the best things kids can do to improve their mental and physical health, both in the short term and the long term.
Since 2020, the goal of CHETA has been to work with partnering organizations to help empower elementary-school aged children who suffer from homelessness, trauma and/or mental illness by educating them about the importance of exercise while providing them the opportunity, facilitated by fitness trackers, to participate in activity challenges.
Materials
Each participant is provided with an activity tracker along with educational handouts about the importance of exercise for their mental/physical health and a description of the CHETA challenge with instructions.
Overview of the program
Participants are provided with a gift box that contains educational sheets as well as a fitness tracker. After we are connected to a child with the help of a partnering organization, we send the box and a log that allows the child, along with a caring adult/caregiver, to track their steps and progress during the challenge. Every child that completes their challenge receives a certificate along with a gift card to a store of the partnering organization’s preference.
Impact
Children who participate in this program are provided important education about the benefits of exercise on their physical and mental health, a fitness tracker to help them continue to exercise, a sense of confidence from completing the challenge, and a gift card to reward them for their efforts that allows them the opportunity to pick out something they want. This experience can be truly life-changing and empowering for these kids and we at CHETA are so grateful to help provide them with this opportunity. To date, we have impacted over 200 children through our programs.
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Email
cj@cheta.org
Phone
(919) 637-9166