NEICAC successfully raises funds to match a $75,000 grant from the Wellmark Foundation

The Wellmark Foundation last year announced it was awarding $75,000 to help fund nutrition education programs for preschoolers in Northeast Iowa.  However, the grant required NEICAC to raise $75,000 in matching contributions.  Now the agency is announcing it has reached that fundraising goal.

The "Farm to Head Start program" will create hands-on experiences for the students and their families on how to make better food choices and how to prevent health and social issues related to childhood obesity.

The program will be run in cooperation with the Northeast Iowa Food & Fitness Initiative.  FFI Early Childhood Coordinator and MATCH Grant Coordinator Haleisa Johnson said, "This is critical to our community health needs because in northeast Iowa childhood obesity remains a grave concern, with 38.9 percent of Northeast Iowa Head Start children qualifying as overweight or obese compared to 28.5 percent of children nationally."

NEICAC and the Food & Fitness Initiative were one of only 15 organizations receiving grants from Wellmark.