Letter: Future of Award-winning HEAL program in jeopardy

Time is running out. Despite herculean efforts to secure grants and monies to support the HEAL project at Cabrillo elementary schools, presently only half of the funding to support HEAL has been secured for the 2008-2009 school year. What does this mean? Most importantly, it means potentially losing trained, experienced staff that have developed and nurtured this program since its inception three years ago. It means implementing an outstanding program at less than full capacity. 

HEAL stands for health, education, agriculture, and learning. In three short years, HEAL has developed into a noteworthy program demonstrated by its string of awards (the Kent award and Sustainable San Mateo Sustainability County recognition), noteworthy visitors (Supervisors Rich Gordon and Jerry Hill), and fiscal supporters which include Kaiser Permanente, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Hatch School Administration, Hatch School PTO, San Mateo County Dept of Public Health, the San Mateo County Farm Bureau as well as many local individuals and businesses.

Following in the tradition of Alice Waters’ edible schoolyard, HEAL provides students with hands-on experience in science, nutrition, ecology, health, and agriculture. The significance and urgency of these topics is underscored by our growing national pediatric obesity crisis and rising incidence of diabetes among children. If ever there was a time to pull out your checkbook, now’s the time. Here’s a chance to put money in our own backyard for our children’s future.

Please direct inquiries and offers of support to the Coastside Health Committee, Po Box 781, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019, 650-712-0431.

For more information, please visit a link to HEAL on the Cabrillo district web site at http://www.cabrillo.k12.ca.us/heal/home.html.