Miami-Dade School Board members and local officials gathered recently at Booker T. Washington High School (BTWHS) for a special check presentation event to launch the in-school HealthCorps program.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Tibor and Sheila Hollo Foundation donated $75,000 to bring the unique program founded by Dr. Oz and his wife, Lisa, to another Miami-Dade County high school. Previous donations by the foundation benefitted Coral Park and Hialeah high schools.
Miami-Dade County Schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho and Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado joined Booker T. Washington High principal William Aristide; HealthCorps COO Juan Brea, and Tracy Wilson Mourning, representing the Overtown Youth Center, in thanking the Hollos for their special contribution.
“I’m here today to recognize not only the program at Booker T. Washington Senior High School but to recognize the good giving of people in this community like Tibor and Sheila Hollo. Thank you for the way you give to our community,” Carvalho said.
HealthCorps COO Juan Brea addressed students in the audience.
“It is through you that we can change the future. This movement begins with you,” he said.
Through the Tibor and Sheila Hollo Foundation’s gift to HealthCorps, the Overtown Youth Center now benefits from HealthCorps’ innovative curriculum in its after school programming. A HealthCorps “Coordinator” will lead weekly classes on nutrition, fitness, cooking, and mental strength activities for teens who frequent the center. To help extend its message to entire families, HealthCorps also will bring its wellness movement to the parents of the students involved.
“The epidemic of obesity and other health related issues affecting our youth is staggering. At the Overtown Youth Center [OYC — a program of Alonzo Mourning Charities] we are taking a stand in ensuring that our students obtain not only a high-quality academic education, but also a health and wellness component to teach them the importance and benefits of healthy living. This partnership with HealthCorps allows us to do just that, supporting healthy food environments is a key strategy to reach OYC’s goals of reducing childhood obesity and improving nutrition,” Alonzo Mourning said.
HealthCorps is a 501(c)(3) organization co-founded by heart surgeon and Emmy Award-winning television host Dr. Mehmet Oz and his wife, Lisa, as a movement to fight the childhood obesity crisis by helping Americans discover what they are really hungry for and why.
