Regional Spirit of Healthy Kids program launches October 1

Andrew Steele

September 24, 2019

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“Dad! I met the Hockey Cougars! I could win a chance to meet the whole team! I need to read and exercise every day!”

These words, from a young participant in the Spirit of Healthy Kids program, sum up what makes the program successful and important: the program gives kids positive role models to look up to and rewards them for making healthy choices, and it can have a tremendous impact on their lives. Up until recently, Spirit of Healthy Kids was only available in Prince George, but now it’s going regional, to communities throughout Northern BC!

Program now available to all of Northern BC

The first ever intake for the Spirit of Healthy Kids Regional Program will be open from October 1 to October 31, 2019. Here’s how it works:

Interested schools in Northern BC can apply, and six schools will be selected to participate in the challenge, based on healthy kids’ projects they want to accomplish (see Criteria).
Students will view a video that has health, wellness, and philanthropic messages from the PG Cougars, then record their healthy activities in tracking sheets for the next two weeks.
At the end of the challenge, the school with the highest level of participation will receive a $5,000 grant from the program to complete a project in their school that will help students make the best possible choices every day.
The other competing schools will each receive a $1,000 grant.
Kids from schools that weren’t selected can still complete activity forms and enter a random draw for a $500 grant.

While this funding is important, the real win is getting kids to be active, kind, and as healthy as they can be. It's no secret that building healthy habits in kids leads to healthy habits in adults. By supporting schools to encourage these habits in their students, the Prince George Cougars, the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation, and Northern Health aim to build a happier and healthier Northern BC for years, and generations, to come.

Spirit of Healthy Kids background

In 2015, the Prince George Cougars wanted to give back to the community. They introduced Read to Succeed, a program focused on getting elementary school children to spend more time reading and being physically active. The program was a hit and, in 2016, a new partnership between the Cougars, the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation, and Northern Health came together, and the Spirit of Healthy Kids program was born.

This new program built on the foundation of Read to Succeed, adding new areas of focus including philanthropy, smoke and vape reduction, and injury prevention, among others. Since the program began, over 4,100 children have participated and read their way to rewards, like enjoying Cougars hockey games.