Contributions Joseph McCain

The Winston County Journal

The Louisville Municipal School Family Center wants parents, students and the community aware of the importance of maintaining good health habits.

One step taken toward accomplishing this goal, the center's Annual Health Fair, took place March 8, with 261 participants learning about the importance of making healthy choices as they pertain to cooking and nutritious eating, as well as the importance of physical examinations and exercise. Organizers said a secondary goal of the fair was to instill in parents understanding of the direct relationship between healthy food choices and success in academic education.

Many people came together to make the health fair possible, including students, volunteers and Family Center employees.

"Everybody was absolutely wonderful," said LMS Family Center Coordinator Barbara Eichelberger, commenting on the participants, volunteers and others involved with the health fair.

Some of the volunteers were the several area organizations sponsored informational booths at the fair. Sandra Jackson of the Home Economist's Office manned the nutrition booth, while Jill Furr ran the Gilbert's Home Health Booth. Booths for cholesterol screenings, blood sugar checks and blood pressure checks were handled by staff and nurses from several organizations, including Brenda Johnson, Brenda Donald, Pam McCool, Jennifer McAdory, Cindy Wood and DeAnna Denson of Sta-Home Health and Sta-Home Hospice; Angela Jennings, Kim Hamm and LaShara Jones of Care Center of Louisville; and Amanda Lovorn and Donna Robertson of Fair Elementary School.

Desha Trosper and Stacy McKay of optometrist Dr. Danny Clifton's office provided vision screenings, while Dr. Mark Donald, DMD, provided dental screenings.

Other booths included the D.A.R.E. booth, featuring D.A.R.E. instructor Officer Tonya McWhirter; a Tobacco Quitline booth staffed by parents and students from the Louisville Municipal School District; the Be in the "Click" booth with Billy Kemp; and a booth offering information on adult basic education classes and parenting classes, manned by Carlo Danko.

Eichelberger drew special attention to the attendance of Winston County native Bill Kemp, who now lives in Tennessee and visits schools to promote the Be in the "Click" program.

Kemp noted the district plans to implement the Be in the "Click" program, which promotes seat belt usage, especially among teens.

He said he was glad to be a part of introducing the program to Winston County, since he felt it could save many lives.

Other volunteers included students in Louisville HighSchool's JROTC program assisted with various booths that helped students receive hands-on experience and insight into various career paths. Health fair organizers wished to thank JROTC instructors Master Sgt. Carl Wiggins and Sgt. Edward Allen for the student volunteers and for the use of the JROTC classroom as and extended area in which the fair was held.

Additional thanks were given to parents, guardians and caregivers; students, teachers and administrators in the LMSD; Sta-Home of Louisville; NAACP of Winston County; Gilbert's Home Health; Care Center of Louisville; the National Wild Turkey Federation; USDA Forest Service of Washington, D.C.; USDA ASCR Office of Outreach in Washington, D.C.; USDA FSIS, FSES of Beltsville, Md.; Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Starkville; WLSM Radio Station; Louisville Electric System; Winston County Journal; Tobacco Quitline of Ridgeland; Charley McCool's Prescriptions; City of Louisville Police Department; City of Louisville; The Vision Center of Louisville; W. Mark Donald, D.M.D. Family Dentistry; Parent Advisory Committee; Be In The "Click" of Columbia, Tenn.; Extension Home Economist; Mississippi State University Extension Service; and Emerson Family School.

Door prizes awarded at the fair were donated by Wal-Mart; Sta-Home Health/Hospice; Care Center of Louisville; NAACP of Winston County; Gilbert's Home Health of Tupleo; the National Wild Turkey Federation/JAKES Program; USDA Forest Service of Washington, D.C.; USDA/ASCR Office Outreach of Washington, D.C.; USDA FSIS, FSES of Beltsville, Md.; and Be in the "Click" of Columbia, Tenn.

"We thank each individual and group for caring and being involved in the Health Fair," Eichelberger said.

Eichelberger, Assistant Superintendent Gladys Taylor, Assistant Family Center Coordinator Marie Livingston and Title I Secretary Joann Curtis also appreciate the parents and participants for the support given to the Health Fair as well as to the Family Center.

Eichelberger explained how she felt it was the center's mission to improve the quality of life for the community and children by providing these resources at the health fair and education resources at all times.

The staff of the Family Center hopes that through sponsoring the Health Fair, the center can make an impact on educating parents, students and the community about making healthy choices and applying the knowledge and practices that will ensure the good health and mental stability that will aid lifelong success.

The center is able to sponsor these types of events through Title I federal programs, which fund the center's giving of services to parents and the community. The center serves to maximize the positive effects of families and schools working together to improve student achievement and family involvement, with a focus on lifelong achievement and success for the child and the parent, both individually and as a family.All the services and program offered through the Family Center are designed to assist parents/participants and teachers in helping students.

Parents may visit the center and check out several educational resources for home use, including reading and math skill and drill activities; reference books; library books; accelerated reader books; manupulatives; flash cards; videos and cassettes; cassette players; take-home packs; electronic games; family games; Hooked on Phonics; Hooked on Math; Lightspan software on grade level; ACT work keys; GED study guides; and Mississippi Subject Area Test instruction intervention guides.

Parent Education conducts gathering at schools, in community locations and in the Family Center for parents and families. Workshops provide training in ways to develop learning, life coping, parenting, and effective home-school communication skills for children, parents, families and teachers. The Family Center Computer Lab has computers available available for parents and students to help with education needs, while Parent and Teacher Resources lends parenting skills and teacher curriculums to be used by families at home and teachers in schools.

Community Outreach links parents, families and teachers with community agencies and volunteers to lend help and support, and Substance and Physical Abuse Prevention coordinates with teachers, D.A.R.E. officers and school counselors to provide students and families with prevention skill information and materials. Monthly Parent Newsletters and Home Activity Calendars are distributed to families with students enrolled in grades kindergarten-12 in LMSD.

The Family Center is located at 202 Ivy Ave. in Louisville, and is open Monday-Friday from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. The center can be reached by phone at 773-4018.

For more information on the Family Center, visit http://louisville.k12.ms.us/family.