Families at Latonia Elementary School recently attended a health and wellness event, complete with dinner, conversation cards, and several community partners. 

To start the evening, District Nutrition Services provided a salad and potato bar for families, while topic cards with conversation starters were provided on tables. Families conversed with one another before choosing two of the community partner sessions to attend. Partners included Northern Kentucky University, Art Equals, HealthPoint, and Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati. 

Northern Kentucky University: Students from NKU provided families with a mini yoga session and easy balloon game in the gym. NKU explained how yoga is beneficial in stress reduction, breathing, sleep rate, and keeping the heart healthy. The balloon game was introduced to families in order for them to work together and see that fitness can be easy to do at home with common household items.

Arts Equals: Representatives from Art Equals showed families the importance of creating art with one another, as art can be a stress reliever. Through scribble art stories, participants could understand different family dynamics, as well as work together to create the art and tell a story through the art.  

Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati: Pet Partners of Greater Cincinnati brought three furry friends with them for families to pet. The three dogs are used for pet therapy and mental health coping. Families learned about pet therapy and enjoyed the company of the animals.  

HealthPoint: HealthPoint provided healthy eating tips for families and discussed the importance of healthy eating as a child. They provided information on how to support children with healthy eating and ways for children to make those choices themselves.  

Families were thrilled to learn a variety of information from community partners and to receive the choice of sessions.

Tara Chesnut, Cardinal Club CLC coordinator, said she is excited to host even more events like this for families in the future and was glad families were able to focus on the benefits of health and wellness through the interactive sessions.