Youth ages 12 to 18 from Lockwood have been practicing for several weeks to earn belay (repel) certification from Rocksport Gym in Reno. For Global Youth Service Day on Friday, the certified youth climbers will instruct children from Hillside Elementary School in rock climbing to get more youngsters interested in fun physical activities that combat childhood obesity.
The project was funded through a United Health Heroes grant to Community Chest, Inc., a nonprofit agency in Virginia City that provides holistic solutions to children and families in poverty in northwestern Nevada.
The United Health Heroes program is a service-learning, health literacy initiative designed to encourage young people, working through educators and youth leaders, to create and implement local hands-on programs to address the issue of childhood obesity. Grants were awarded to schools and youth-focused, community center-based programs that have demonstrated a clear understanding of the health risks associated with pediatric obesity; proposed creative solutions to fighting obesity in their neighborhoods and communities; and can be easily implemented, scaled and measured.
Rocksport Gym is located at 1901 Silverada Blvd. in Reno.
According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services data from 2007, more than 34 percent of children in Nevada ages 10 to 17 are considered either overweight or obese.
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