Local News
Calendar promotes healthy families
Tucked inside of the Positive Parenting 2010 calendar are tips parents can use to ensure their family is healthy.
Date: 1/22/2010
Posted by Center for Children and Families on 2/5/2010
By MONICA SPRINGER
The tips vary: Limit television time, smile back when your baby smiles at you, and talk and listen to your child about school every day.
(Laurie Sisk/Telegram - Garden City High School graphic arts instructor Andrea Kirchoff holds a copy of the Positive Parenting 2010 calendar she helped design.
The calendar is a result of the Finney County Community Health Coalition, the Kansas Strengthening Families Plan and a grant received by the health coalition focused on agencies serving children from newborn to age 8.
Verna Weber, executive director for the Center for Children and Families, said the health coalition wanted an easy way to give parents tips on parenting and raising healthy families.
The calendar is in English and Spanish.
The grant the health coalition received paid for the calendar to be translated into Spanish and also paid for a graphic designer, Weber said.
Andrea Kirchoff, a graphic arts teacher at Garden City High School, designed the calendar.
The Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Holcomb donated the cost of printing the calendar and gave a copy to each of its more than 3,000 employees. The calendar also was distributed to children in Garden City and Holcomb schools.
Paul Karkiainen, general manager at Tyson Fresh Meats, said he thinks the calendar is a good project for the community and for parents who work at the plant.
"We thought it would help our team members, make them better parents and give them tips on which agencies to go to," said Karkiainen, who declined to say how much the plant spent on the printing costs.
The last few pages of the calendar list organizations and agencies available in Garden City and Finney County to assist families and children. There is also a brief description of each agency. Agencies listed include the Salvation Army, Parents as Teachers and several programs offered by Kansas Children's Service League and Russell Child Development Center.
On the back page, there also is a list of 30 activities families can do together, and many either cost no money or cost very little, Weber said.
The activities include baking cookies for a neighbor, setting aside time with grandparents, making music using household items or visiting a farmer's market, pumpkin patch or orchard.
Kevin Gallagher, executive director of mission and ministry at St. Catherine Hospital, said the calendar is a positive way to offer parents tips on how to raise healthy and strong families.
"I think it has some great tips," he said.
Weber said parents and families also can call her at the Center for Children and Families if they have any questions. She said the staff at the center also can help direct families to the proper agencies the family needs.
"It's been a pretty exciting project," Weber said.
The calendar was distributed in December, but copies of the calendar are still available. The calendars can be picked up at the Center for Children and Families or at United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries. The calendars are free.
Weber and Gallagher said they hope the calendar is printed again next year. Not all of the photos in the calendar are local families or children, Weber said, but in the future she hopes for all local photos.