Research
Fuel Your Brain, Not Your Belly Proposal
Submitted to: The Gates Foundation
April 11, 2014 Authored by: Shannon Donovan
Table o
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 2 Proposal Description ........................................................................................................... 2 The Effect of Obesity on the Body ..................................................................................... 4 Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 6 Smoothie Days .................................................................................................................... 7 Educational Days ................................................................................................................ 8 Take Home Packets............................................................................................................. 8 Budget ................................................................................................................................. 8 Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Program ............................................................................ 9 How the Gates Foundation Can Relate ............................................................................. 10 References ......................................................................................................................... 11
Executive Summary
Fuel Your Brain, Not Your Belly is a program that has been developed in hopes
of reducing rates of obesity. With Michigan having one of the highest rates of obesity in
the United States, it is time to take charge and implement a program that will reduce this
life threatening epidemic. Obesity stems from a lack of knowledge in nutrition and
exercise. This program will involve building a foundation for the children within their
schools in the West Bloomfield School District that will educate them on how to live a
long, healthy life. If children are taught from a young age about how to stay healthy and
fuel their brains, there is no doubt that we can reduce rates of obesity. We are requesting a grant in the amount of $50,000 from The Gates Foundation to assist in funding the startup costs of our venture. These startup costs include the costs of local produce, nutrition days, raising awareness, and Fuel Your Brain goody bags which include helpful take home information for the children.
Proposal Description
Children that grow up with a lack of knowledge in nutrition and exercises to stay
healthy, tend to have a greater chance of becoming obese. When a child lacks knowledge
of proper nutrition and a steady exercise routine, they are not only affecting their physical appearance. The inside of their bodies are significantly affected. Obesity decreases an
individual’s life expectancy, reduces attention span and brain function, and increases
chances of diabetes, eating disorders, psychological disorders, heart disease, and
depression.
Our program would give the West Bloomfield School District the opportunity to
lower rates of obesity by improving the student population’s knowledge on nutrition and
exercise. In order for this program to be successful, we would need support of the West
Bloomfield population and the willingness from the school district to maintain this
program throughout the academic year.
The Fuel Your Brain program is committed to a two-step method:
Step One
™ Creating relationships with local farmers ™ Arranging Fuel Your Brain day each semester for West Bloomfield Schools ™ Recruiting individuals for the team ™ Impacting students enough to lower rates of obesity ™ Creating Fuel Your Brain take home bags for students
Step Two
™ Maintaining the program within the West Bloomfield School District ™ Expanding to other school districts ™ Growing the size of the company’s team We are looking for assistance in the first step of our program. That would include all
of the startup costs for the first year. Once the program has been initiated and proven to be a success, we hope to gain donations and assistance in the local areas that we will be
affecting.
The Effect of Obesity on the Body
The outcomes associated with obesity are never ending. Obesity is a massive
concern in the United States. This disease can typically be avoided by implementing the
knowledge into individuals while they’re young. This will create a new generation of
children who can take the knowledge they have home with them and not only affect themselves, but their family as well. When a child lacks nutrition and exercise, their
physical and mental capabilities diminish.
The above figure depicts the percent of population that is obese per state in 2012.
This figure was taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.
Notice, that Michigan is highlighted in orange which represents our population as being
between 30% and 35% obese. This means that nearly one-third of Michigan’s population
is obese. These numbers could drop significantly if our program was implemented.
An article entitled The Role of Nutrition in Children’s Learning and their
Behaviors, the author Seun Idowu discussed the concerns about the effects of poor
nutrition on children. Seun Idowu stated that, “Children who are fed on store bought
cookies, pies, rolls, and processed food generally, instead of fresh fish, meats, vegetables,
fruits and whole grains will undoubtedly develop nutritional deficiencies. It's not hard to
eat real food, fish, vegetables, fruits, lean fats and whole grains. It is important to remember that our brains biochemistry is determined by food we eat far more than other
organs of the body. Nutrition clearly has significant effects on brain function.” (Idowu,
2013)
Children need a healthy upbringing in order to have a positive relation with
school and their future. This program would implement such changes to educate children
from K-12 so that they can learn various ways to eat healthy, different exercises to stay in
shape, and develop a routine that they can follow throughout growing up. Without implementing these programs, children will continue to have that lack of knowledge and
guide to success. Obesity leads to many of the following complications:
™ ADHD
™ Diabetes
™ Heart Disease
™ Psychological Disorders ™ Depression ™ Fatigue ™ Decreased learning in school setting
The above list is only a brief look into how obesity will affect 16 perfect of the
current children and teen population who are obese. (Aloe, 2010) We need this program so that we can change the lives of many children and create a healthier young generation.
Objectives
The intention of our program is to simply target the local school district in West
Bloomfield and start on a small scale. Once success is proven in one district, we can
expand to others. We intend for our program to visit the schools once a semester or twice
in the academic school year. The first Fuel Your Brain Day of the year would of course be at the beginning of the school year with the purpose of getting everyone excited to
begin this healthy journey.
In the West Bloomfield School District, they are known to have certain days
where children have bake sales or bagel days. Every child can bring money in and pay for
these unhealthy items. The great thing about our program is that we will substitute such
days for more healthy and fun products; and it will be free. When I surveyed a pool of 25
parents with children in the West Bloomfield Schools, I received feedback which favored
our program. They said that they would like to see their children getting better nutrition while in school and also, information that will give them the tools to stay healthy. The
chart below displays the numerical results from the survey.
Survey of Program Changes
25 20 15 10 5 0 Program Changes No Undecided Yes
Smoothie Days
The smoothie days would be designed to show children that starting off their day
can be fun and healthy. The bagel days would either be eliminated or decrease in
frequency and smoothie days would become the new norm. All of the products that
would go into making these smoothies would be fresh produce, milk, yogurt, etc. Each and every product would be bought locally so that we can support our local businesses.
These days would show the schools how to run such a day so that they can continue the smoothie days on a monthly basis even when we are not holding our Fuel Your Brain
days.
These smoothies are filled with vitamins and antioxidants. The children would be
given an array of fruit and can pick up to three different fruits they want in their smoothie. We then would blend their smoothie and get them started on the right track for
the rest of the day and semester.
Educational Days
Also known as the Fuel Your Brain days, these are days in which we have an
assembly for the entire school. This assembly will last approximately 2-3 hours. It will go over everything from how to make eating healthy fun to how to stay active and in shape.
Children need a reason to eat healthy and stay in shape. Granted, some children love healthy food and others play sports. But when children do not, they need a reason for
such changes and we are the ones who will give them those changes.
Our educational days will also teach the staff of the schools pertinent information
to retain in order to keep our program alive. The school staff has a very large role in the
success of these children which is why we want to impact them as well.
Take Home Packets
In essence, these packets are goody bags to send home with the children. It
contains a Fuel Your Brain brochure, information on healthy foods, proper breakfasts to
start the day, and a log book that keeps track of the child’s food intake and activity. All of
this information will be brought home to their families where they can then discuss in further what they have learned. These take home packets are easy ways to impact others
outside of school.
Budget
Our request of $50,000 will hold much more value than just the dollar amount.
Granted, the amount we are requesting is of a decent amount, however, that money will
be the start of an amazing and impactful program.
Our budget consists of buying fruit for the Smoothie Days, creating take home
bags for the students, and creating a team to go from school to school on the Fuel Your
Brain days. The West Bloomfield School District has approximately 6300 students
throughout K-12. Based on this most recent number, I was able to calculate some of the
following costs.
With the Smoothie Days, each child will be able to choose three fruits for their
smoothie. Each smoothie would also contain milk and yogurt. This would result in each smoothie costing approximately $2.50/student, totaling $15,750 per semester and $31,500 annually. This would leave us with a remainder of $18,500 to spend on the goody bags and educational information. With a savvy team, we can be sure to delegate the remainder of those costs to the educational bags and in school presentations.
The reason that the smoothies take up a great amount of the sum is because we are
implementing these days to give the children an opportunity to try healthy options. They
won’t willingly start eating healthier if they don’t know what healthy tastes like. Healthy
foods can be as exciting to eat as the typical bagel or chips, but they have to learn that
through providing them with these experiences.
Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Program
Michelle Obama has created a nationwide program that was designed to help raise
a healthier generation of kids. She travels around the country to many different schools and motivates the children and adults to join the movement. As the First Lady said
herself, "In the end, as First Lady, this isn’t just a policy issue for me. This is a passion.
This is my mission. I am determined to work with folks across this country to change the
way a generation of kids thinks about food and nutrition." (Obama)
Just like our Fuel Your Brain, Not Your Belly program, Michelle has committed
herself to this nationwide issue. She does not want to see the children grow up unhealthy,
sick, and out of shape. We want a nation filled with bright, healthy, growing and
motivated young individuals.
How the Gates Foundation Can Relate
While investigating the Gates Foundation website, I made note that there were a
handful of awarded grants to fund other topics of obesity. However, I did not come across
many that were specifically aimed toward children in educational districts in the United
States. One that caught my eye was an awarded grant of nearly $40,000 for the University of Memphis. They used this money to determine if stunting and impaired growth could be distinguished by obesity models.
Knowing that you guys have awarded grants to topics of obesity before gives me
hope that our program will be of interest to you. On the flip side, being that there are not
an excess of awarded grants for obesity projects in the United States, I believe that our
program would be a great project for you to invest in. Our drive to make a change is
immense and we would love the opportunity to have The Gates Foundation as the reason
that we could start this program.
References
Idowu, S. (2013, December 16). The role of nutrition in children's learning and their
behaviors. Retrieved from http://www.carmma.org/update/role-nutrition
children’s-learning-and-their-behaviours-0
Aloe, L. (2010, December). Battling childhood obesity: How to keep your kids trim and
healthy. Retrieved from http://www.childrensdmc.org/?id=1767&sid=1
University of memphis. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.gatesfoundation.org/How-We
Work/Quick-Links/Grants-Database/Grants/2013/10/OPP1100553
Adult obesity facts. (2014, March 28). Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
Obama, M. (n.d.). About let's move!. Retrieved from http://www.letsmove.gov/about