“Dreambuilders” program gives children healthy take-home meals
each weekend
New York Giants Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie’s Dreambuilders program,
Blessings in a Backpack and UnitedHealthcare are providing healthy meals
to 250 children at PS 15 in Manhattan, and PS 502 and PS 102 in Brooklyn
every weekend for a year.
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New York Giants Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (left) tasted a fruit smoothie made by Nasieer (right) and his team using a pedal-powered blender bike. Rodgers-Cromartie's Dreambuilders New York and UnitedHealthcare kicked off the second year of their "food for children" collaborative at New York City's PS 15 with fun-filled, healthy activities. Through Dreambuilders, Blessings in a Backpack and UnitedHealthcare, more than 250 in-need children at PS 15 in Manhattan, and PS 502 and PS 102 in Brooklyn will receive backpacks of healthy foods and snacks to take home over the weekends, when they may not otherwise have access to nutritious meals (Photo: Gerard Gaskin).
Dreambuilders and UnitedHealthcare today kicked off the second year of
their “food for children” collaborative with fun-filled, healthy
activities for students at PS 15. Students pedaled blender bikes, making
healthy smoothies for Rodgers-Cromartie to taste-test. He also took
students through some football-style warm-ups; threw the football with
the students; and talked to them about the importance of being
physically active and staying healthy.
“Access to healthy foods and staying active are critical to helping kids
reach their full potential,” said Rodgers-Cromartie, who launched his
Dreambuilders program in 2014. “Through our work with Blessings in a
Backpack and UnitedHealthcare, children at these three schools will
continue to receive bags of food they can eat over the weekend that will
give them the energy they need to be kids.”
“Programs such as Dreambuilders help address a significant need in our
communities – giving children access to healthy food,” said Michael
McGuire, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of New York. “We’re grateful for the
opportunity to partner with Dreambuilders and Blessings in a Backpack to
help children develop a lifelong commitment to good health.”
From 2011 to 2013, nearly 500,000 – or one in four – children in New
York City lived in households that did not have an adequate food supply,
according to a 2014 study by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.
“It is through the generous support of organizations like Dreambuilders
and UnitedHealthcare that we can provide backpacks of food to children
so they can have food they need during those times when free or
reduced-priced school lunches are not available,” said Brooke Wiseman,
CEO, Blessings in a Backpack.
UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) company, serves nearly
4 million residents across New York with a care provider network of 253
hospitals and 75,000 physicians and other care providers statewide.
About the Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie
Dreambuilders Program
As a program under the umbrella of the Dreambuilders Foundation, New
York Giants cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie started his
Dreambuilders program to provide essential nutrition to kids in need in
New York. The program provides backpacks of healthy foods and snacks for
in-need children to take home over the weekends, when they may not
otherwise have access to nutritious meals. His program also will support
St. Jude’s Research Hospital, and its efforts to find cures and save
children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
About Blessings in a Backpack
Blessings in a Backpack, People Magazines Charity of 2012, is a
results-oriented program that is designed to feed elementary school
children whose families qualify for the federally funded National School
Lunch Program and have little or no food on the weekends. Better test
scores, improved reading skills, positive behavior, improved health and
increased attendance have all been attributed to the success of this
program. As little as $100 feeds one American school child in our
program for an entire 38-week school year. Blessings in a Backpack is
currently feeding more than 80,000 children across 45 U.S. states and
the District of Columbia. (see all at www.blessingsinabackpack.org).
We are Feeding the Future of America® – one school at a time.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live
healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting
consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships
with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health
benefit programs for individuals, employers, military service members,
retirees and their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,
and contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care
professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide.
UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group
(NYSE:UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. For
more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com
or follow @myUHC on Twitter.
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