Small markets in south Santa Rosa, Fetters Hot Springs and Russian River are making healthy changes for a healthier community. Through their participation in the Healthy Food Outlet Project, markets in the following neighborhoods have increased their selection of fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables available to customers. The markets are working to make it easier for residents to fill half their plates with fruits and vegetables, a key message of the nationwide Choose My Plate campaign. • Roseland: Lola’s… Read More »

Girls on the Run Sonoma County will be holding their 5k Family Fun Run/Walk on Saturday, May 12 in Rohnert Park. Supervisor Efren Carrillo will lead warm-ups and Rohnert Park Mayor Jake MacKenzie and Supervisor Shirlee Zane will be on hand to meet and greet runners. According to the organization’s website, “Girls on the Run is a life-changing, non-profit prevention program for girls in the 3rd through 8th grade. With a mission to educate and prepare girls for a lifetime… Read More »

Sonoma County Regional Parks’ rangers and naturalists invite kids to join them for some pretty cool outdoor adventures in the coming days. As part of this spring’s Parks Celebration promotion, they’ve planned campfires, nature hikes, tot walks, tide pool explorations, fishing lessons and a lot of other FREE events for families through June. These are great opportunities to get the kids running around and reinforce how fun it is to be active outdoors.  Below is a roundup of what’s happening in the days ahead. For a complete list of events, check out the Parks Celebration calendars.… Read More »

Children can’t always verbally communicate how they feel about their lives. They might not be able to say what feels unjust in the world around them. They can’t always articulate how their community can meet their needs. But, kids can take pictures. The point of Photovoice projects is to give children an opportunity to speak out through the use of pictures. A new Photovoice project created by Santa Rosa 9 to 11-year-olds communicates loudly and clearly that local youth are… Read More »

It’s been several tough years for many of us, and these days, slightly more than one out of every eight Sonoma County residents live below the poverty line. Not surprisingly, the Redwood Empire Food Bank has seen a 40 percent increase in need in the past two years and the organization now feeds 78,000 Sonoma County residents each month. In an effort to raise donations and raise awareness—and to have a little fun along the way—the REFB and the Network… Read More »

Of course reading, writing and “rithmetic” are the basis of our educational system, but with the huge spike in childhood obesity, type 2 diabetes in children as well as ADHD, ADD, etc., more and more people are thinking that teaching kids about good nutrition is at least as important as teaching them algebra.  As Dr. David Sortino suggests in his Press Democrat blog post: “If teachers are required to teach from mandated curricula why not include nutrition? Nutrition is the fuel… Read More »