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Submitted by Healthy Savannah
Feb. 29, 2024, Healthy Savannah’s Faith and Nutrition coalition is hosting a free meet-and-greet breakfast for faith community leaders at 8 a.m. on March 7 at Kingdom Life Christian Fellowship Church, 425 W. Montgomery Cross Road in Savannah.
Organizers hope the event will encourage people to learn more about the coalition and the impact it has had on the community as well as the resources it offers, including Faith, Activity, and Nutrition training and upcoming events such as its second annual Faith Walk planned for 4 p.m. on April 21 at Lake Mayer.
“We’ll also be talking about some of Healthy Savannah’s other projects and partnerships such as the Tide to Town urban trail system, which are part of our overall mission to elevate the health and wellness of the community through policy, systems, and environmental change,” said Ruby Castro, Nutrition Program manager.”Plus we want to provide an overview of the Faith, Activity, and Nutrition training along with other upcoming events that the Faith and Health Coalition will be hosting.”
The free eight-week session will be offered online to Chatham area faith-based organizations to help foster increased physical activity and healthy food consumption among Black and Hispanic adults.
Also known as “FAN,” the training supports churches in:
- increasing opportunities for physical activity and healthy eating,
• creating guidelines for physical activity and healthy eating,
• engaging community faith leaders in FAN goals and supporting their health, and
• sharing health messages with members.
The Healthy Savannah Faith and Health Coalition can connect and support interested faith-based organizations to the FAN training. Online modules were created by The University of South Carolina Prevention Research Center and include eight engaging lessons. Faith leaders who complete the training course can receive free resources to support their members in preventing chronic disease and improving health outcomes.
“This is the fifth year we have offered this training designed to help faith leaders support and educate their members in embracing a healthier lifestyle and nutritional choices,” said Yolanda Roberson, executive pastor of Kingdom Life Christian Fellowship. “FAN is a successful program that is included in the National Cancer Institute’s Research Tested Intervention Programs. It has assisted more than 200 faith-based organizations to become stronger in health and wellness.”
Healthy Savannah’s Faith and Health Coalition is a network of Savannah area faith-based organizations of all faiths who come together to encourage healthy lifestyle behaviors in places of worship. The Coalition meets at 6 p.m. on the first Monday of the month at Kingdom Life Christian Fellowship Church.
Chronic diseases have significant health and economic costs in the United States; according to the CDC, those health gaps remain widespread among racial and ethnic minority groups. More than 868,000 Americans die of heart disease or stroke every year, which is one-third of all deaths. Those diseases take an economic toll, costing our healthcare system $214 billion per year and causing $138 billion in lost productivity on the job.
The Faith and Health Coalition will be offering other events tailored towards encouraging overall health including the upcoming ‘Faith Walk’ on April 21.
Enrollment is now open for the free breakfast, provided by the Southern Palate, on March 7. To sign up, click here and RSVP by March 1:
For additional information, visit https://healthysavannah.org/the-faith-and-health-coalition/ or learn more on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/healthysav/posts/pfbid0wPcXwAwtrB436Q5FFMvtgVbYJzcc9eNYrBCoKRi72UCPP1XBRCmgcZPjn5tkJYbil
ABOUT THE YMCA OF COASTAL GEORGIA/HEALTHY SAVANNAH GRANT FOR RACIAL AND ETHNIC APPROACHES TO COMMUNITY HEALTH: In September 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded a second grant called Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) to Healthy Savannah and the YMCA of Coastal Georgia. $5.1 million in funding is being deployed over a five-year period to be utilized in an “upstream” approach to foster sustainable health equity among racial and ethnic minority populations in low-wealth neighborhoods in areas of nutrition, physical activity and the reduction of chronic diseases. The renewed funding enables work to continue which began under the initial, five-year, $3.4 million REACH grant awarded in 2018, and a supplemental grant awarded in 2021 to increase awareness and acceptance of COVID-19 and flu adult immunizations. Working with more than 200 community partners and organizations, the Savannah/Chatham County project team’s specific goals in implementing the new five-year grant include fostering physical activity by creating greater access to safe places to walk, run, bike and play; elevating the health and wellness of the community through policy, systems, and environmental change; and providing education and awareness regarding adult immunizations, especially as they relate to health disparities in chronic conditions of hypertension, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and obesity. The administrators will also continue to foster stronger connections between people and the healthcare providers who serve them by supporting awareness and use of the HERO Help Me database. In July 2022, Healthy Savannah received the CDC’s 2022 REACH Lark Galloway-Gilliam Award for Advancing Health Equity Challenge. The award recognizes extraordinary individuals and entities whose work has contributed to advancing health equity.
healthysavannah.org ymcaofcoastalga.org.
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