A local agency’s message found the perfect audience inside UH’s Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre.
The Houston-based non-profit Oliver Foundation presented the UH-based Children’s Theatre Festival with a community grant for $6,500 on Wednesday. In return, members of the foundation’s teen advisory board, Youth Excited About Health, energetically delivered healthy-living tips to a capacity audience before the morning performance of The Emperor’s New Clothes.
This marks the fourth year the Oliver Foundation has offered grant money to the Children’s Theatre Festival, executive director Deborah L. Woehler said.
"This is the fourth year we’ve worked with UH children’s theatre to encourage kids to make healthy eating habits and also promote physical activity to youth and their families," Woehler said. "We also promote being well-rounded people and arts. Music and dance are part of that."
Teen board members are charged with energizing children and teenagers to be more health-conscious through community and school outreach projects that encourage healthy habits and help curb childhood obesity, Woehler said. Teen board representatives informed more than 500 children how to keep seven healthy habits in mind, including choosing five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, drinking water over sugary beverages, opting for healthy snacks and increasing active play and decreasing "screen" time. The other three tips included choosing three daily servings of low-fat dairy products, enjoying a healthy breakfast and serving a "smart" portion size.
"The fastest-growing segment of overweight children is 2-to-5 years (old)," Woehler said. "We are seeing kids as young as 5 weighing 150 pounds. This country now faces the possibility that this generation of children may not outlive their parents due to health complications directly related to obesity."
She believes healthy-living messages have more staying power and impact when delivered by teen board members.
"Teens can relate better to the younger kids," Woehler said.
The Foundation believes healthy-living messages tie in perfectly with the Children’s Theatre Festival’s goals of enriching the lives of children and families. Sidney Berger, Children’s Theater Festival producer, said the new grant money and similar support it receives allows the company to continue that mission.
"This is going to be added to the general expenses of the Children’s Theatre Festival," Berger said. "This is an average-size grant for us. We don’t get grants in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, but most of them are similar in size to this one. We’ll be able to use the money for any area of the festival.
"The Children’s Theatre Festival is happy to salute the Oliver Foundation both for its support of live theater for young audiences and for focusing on children with regard to health, nutrition and fitness," he said.
The festival includes two plays each summer on the UH campus, with a combined budget of approximately $200,000.
The Emperor’s New Clothes opened this week and continues through July 18. More information about the production is available online at www.theatre.uh.edu.
