Back to Our Food, Fitness, and Health Roots

Let's Do This!

This is one of the most challenging times in the history of mankind; and it is particularly challenging for our youth. As we expand the global economy, we face tremendous issues, not only in terms of the number and diversity of people and cultures with whom we will interact, but also we face formidable tasks in balancing our essential need for sustainable agriculture against urban and rural sprawl; maintaining adequate physical involvement in our daily lives; and visioning and implementing comprehensive and equitable health care systems, among others.

I believe our young people will meet these challenges head on, but I also know that we must equip them to do so. At SAFEO, we made a specific decision to begin with food, fitness, and health. That is because without a strong, healthy group of young people, there will be no strong and capable future leaders. Mind, body, and spirit are seriously affected by food, fitness, and health, and with the startling statistic that one in three District of Columbia youths is overweight and obese, the situation is gravest among inner city communities where few comprehensive grocery stores exist, where fast food establishments prevail, and where the search for fresh vegetables and fruit leads to nowhere. Can you imagine not being able to buy an apple within a three mile radius of your neighborhood?

SAFEO is raising public awareness of this issue through three initial grants from the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust: one to expose youth to the food industry, with a view towards directing them to professions where they can have an impact on food quality; another to engage them in a food, fitness, and health care community mapping project where they will identify health-conscious, cost-effective products and services available to them and their families; the last to put them on a regimen of physical exercise for weight loss, toning, and illness prevention.

In October of this year we will put on a major community-wide Get Up, Get Involved, Healthy Living Festival on the campus of Howard University. This event is slated to be one of the most revealing and useful events ever held in the city. In its work in the City, SAFEO engages a host of government, business, educational, faith-based, and community organizations; however, we also need your help.

Please take a look at our effort to host this vital, multifaceted community information festival and make a decision to team with us for this important work. Let’s show Washington, D.C. that we are willing to take control of what we eat, how we support our physical bodies, and how we gain and protect our health. Together, we can tackle the chronic problems of poor nutrition, poor health, and poor physical fitness.

Thank you,

J. Laffeyette Carter · Delete Post