The Highmark Foundation's Highmark Healthy High 5 SPARK Active Recreation program is currently recruiting new program sites throughout the Central Pennsylvania region. SPARK (Sports Play and Active Recreation for Kids) is a nationally recognized physical activity program designed to provide children with an inclusive, non-competitive recreation experience regardless of their ability, size or gender. Organizations interested in becoming a SPARK site are encouraged to visit www.paSPARK.org or call 1-800-652-9420 by August 31.
All program components are provided by Highmark Healthy High 5 at no cost to qualifying organizations. Site recreation leaders receive lesson plans (in an easy-to-use binder), hands-on professional training during a two-day workshop, ongoing site support and equipment vouchers based on need assessments.
To qualify as a SPARK site organizations must:
"Less than 25 percent of school-age children get even 20 minutes of rigorous daily physical activity, well below the minimum of 60 minutes prescribed by researchers," said Kweilin Nassar, Highmark Healthy High 5 project director. "By engaging our schools and communities in SPARK, together we can reverse the current trend and create lifelong healthy habits in children."
The next two-day SPARK training workshop will be held October 2 and 3, 2007, at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, 500 University Drive, in Hershey, Pa. Space is limited and interested organizations are encouraged to call 1-800-652-9420 or visit www.paSPARK.org and click on "Become a SPARK site" by August 31.