A healthy snack coloring book with recipes will be formerly introduced by the Chiku Awali Youth Advisory Council and Rites of Passage participants at the Dr. M. L. King Jr. Multipurpose Center’s annual M. L. King Day of Service celebration at Ramapo High School, 435 Viola Road, Spring Valley, N.Y. on Monday, January 16, 2012.

The purpose of the guide is to promote the importance of healthy eating, especially healthy snacks, and the need to exercise and take measures to control obesity in the community, especially among children.  Chiku Awali was chosen to receive a grant from the UnitedHealth HEROES program, a service-learning, health literacy initiative developed by UnitedHealthcare and Youth Service America. The program’s grants help youth create and implement local, hands-on activities to fight childhood obesity. 

The Project will commence as follows:

• Recipe Contest Contributors, January 16, 2012 to February 23, 2012. Applications will be available at the M. L. King Day of Service celebration for youth to submit a healthy snack recipe for inclusion in the Snacks are Colorful coloring book. Applications can also be found above. All recipes will be reviewed and analyzed with the assistance of a staff member of the Rockland County Department of Health for inclusion in the coloring book.  Participants and schools will be asked to take part in a pre-test questionnaire regarding obesity beginning January 2, 2012.   

• Student Artist Search, February 1, 2012 to February 25, 2012. Youth may apply to illustrate the coloring book. Student graphic artists will be sought to make drawings or computer-generated graphics of the recipes to compliment the recipes that will be placed in the coloring book. Each recipe will have the nutritional value of the recipe, the contributor, and graphic designer's name and age.

·         Book Signing, April 22, 2012, Global Youth Service Day will be held at the Suffern Library, 210 Lafayette Ave, Suffern, NY.  Contributors will participate in a book signing where they can autograph the coloring books.
 

Chiku Awali will hold the book signing event to recognize the winning recipes that have been included in the coloring book. Students who have participated will receive their copy of the coloring book and a certificate of appreciation.

For more information call (845) 357-5062 or email info@chikuawali.org.