About 120 people attended LiveWell Lawrence’s Celebration Breakfast on Nov. 20 to celebrate the coalition’s seventh anniversary.
Six Culture of Health Action Awards were given to individuals and organizations that contributed to making it easier for Douglas County residents to eat healthy foods, be physically active and live tobacco-free. Winners included:
• Ola Faucher — resilience and passion for ensuring the University of Kansas is on its way to a tobacco-free campus in 2016
• Nancy O’Connor — health education and school garden efforts in Lawrence and Eudora
• Mike Myers — work on the Hobbs-Constant Trail and efforts to garner funding for healthy alternative transportation infrastructure in Lawrence
• City of Lawrence — striving through policy, system and environment change to make the community a place where people eat healthy, avoid tobacco use and lead physically active lives
• K-State Research & Extension - Douglas County — helping to improve workplace wellness through investment of time and staff resources
• Lawrence Hy-Vee Stores — health education and food recovery efforts and ensuring access to healthy foods for everyone
The Douglas County Community Foundation also handed out $88,817 in LiveWell Community Wellness grants to 13 awardees. Recipients included:
• Bishop Seabury Academy — garden beds and compost stalls for the school garden
• City of Lawrence (two grants) — four bike repair stations with pumps at The Burroughs Creek Trail, The Levee Trail, the Rotary Arboretum and Lawrence Public Library Plaza; three bike corrals in downtown Lawrence
• Community Mercantile Education Foundation — garden beds for each classroom at Hillcrest Elementary School
• Douglas County Housing Inc. — composting education project for youth at Edgewood Homes
• Eudora PTO — Outdoor Learning Center at Eudora Elementary School
• Eudora Middle School — Read and Ride Program
• Just Food — commercial-size, glass-door refrigerator to display fresh food rescued from local grocery stores and additional cooking demonstrations to teach clients how to use some of the foods made available
• Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department Workplace Wellness Team — 5-gallon glass containers to make infused water with fruit, vegetables and herbs for employee break rooms
• Lawrence Public Schools — barcode scanning tracking systems for 14 elementary school Marathon Clubs and Walk and Talk programs at middle schools
• Lawrence Schools Foundation — renovation of the Ryan Gray Playground for All Children
• Lawrence Unchained Bicycle Coop — public bicycle repair stand and pump in Eudora
• St. John Catholic School — salad bars in the St. John School cafeteria
• The Sunrise Project — programming for children and youth centered on food and the environment