Healthy Harold Saved From Funding Cut

Illawarra Mercury May 2017

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/4699002/healthy-harold-saved-from-funding-cut/#slide=8

School children favourite Healthy Harold was in the mood to celebrate on Wednesday.

But the Life Education Australia (LEA) mascot had to share the love with Baxter the Duck at Warilla North Public School.

More than 150 students were on hand for the first ‘Healthy Mind, Healthy Body’ pilot project run by the University of Wollongong and LEA.

The program to encourage healthier life choices was held just a day after Education Minister Simon Birmingham threw Healthy Harold a lifeline, saying the Federal Government would continue to support LEA.

Senator Birmingham tweeted that the Government supports Healthy Harold and would ‘’work with Life Education Australia to ensure the funding & the program continues’’.

The Education Department had earlier stated the organisation had agreed to become self-sufficient by July 1 this year.

LEA is funded by private donors as well as federal and state governments, operating mobile classrooms that travel to schools and teach children to make safe choices about drugs and alcohol.

Before Senator Birmingham’s announcement, LEA said it was given $500,000 in federal funding for the 2016/17 financial year.

News the Healthy Harold program funding would not be stripped was welcomed by Warilla North Public School teacher Regan Tweddle.

‘’We are very lucky here that we get the program for free thanks to the University of Wollongong,’’ Ms Tweddle said. ‘’It is a very important program. Kids love it. They love going into the Life Education van and enjoying all those fantastic interactive activities.’’

UOW outreach pathways and co-curricula manager Kylie Austin was also pleased with the positive outcome.

‘’We think Healthy Harold is such a valuable program from the university’s perspective because it is so important to make healthy lifestyle choices to be able to engage in education positively,’’ she said.

‘’That’s why we’ve formed a partnership with Life Education Illawarra to run the Healthy Harold program to schools in the Illawarra at no costs to the students or parents. We are also running complimentary workshops aligning to the ‘Healthy Minds, Health Bodies’ Education Week theme.’’

UOW’s Baxter the Duck was also on hand giving students free healthy lunches.

Local school children within the immediate vicinity of the Tallawarra Power Station will reap the reward of $5 390 in funding received by Life Education Illawarra from EnergyAustralia Tallawarra Community Grants Program. As operator of the Tallawarra Power Station, EnergyAustralia is proud to be part of the Illawarra region and is committed to supporting the local community.

EnergyAustralia is providing funding for local projects through their community grants program, supporting initiatives which provide a benefit to the Illawarra community. Two primary schools directly benefiting from this funding in 2017 will be Dapto Public School, with over 700 students and Mount Brown Public School with nearly 400 students. Both these schools are within close proximity to the EnergyAustralia Power Station at Tallawarra and will now be the recipients of fully funded visits in 2017 by Life Education Illawarra as a direct result of the funding provided by EnergyAustralia, with over 1100 students seen in two visits.

Since Life Education began in the Illawarra, almost than 220,000 Illawarra children have experienced the Life Education program at their primary school or pre-school. Teachers and parents value this program and the strong foundation it provides for children.

Throughout 2016 we were able to visit 67 schools (including two aspect classes), educating nearly 16 700 students. We were also able to make 47 visits to preschools, educating over 1100 children. We are delighted that EnergyAustralia is able to provide funding to enable Life Education Illawarra to continue to provide as many fully funded visits as we can to schools throughout the Illawarra, especially those in low socio-economic areas and close proximity to the Power Station at Tallawarra.

A cheque was presented to Michael Aubin (Chairman of Life Education Illawarra) and “Harold” at the EnergyAustralia Tallawarra Power Plant on Thursday, 23 February 2017 by Jason Lee (Asset Leader at Tallawarra Power Station)

Harold was back to visit his mates at Pleasant Heights Public School for their Pink Stumps Day to raise money for the McGrath Foundation.