About Project Healthy Kids Project Healthy Kids is a 501(c)(3) whose purpose is to create a sustainable local food ecosystem that allows children and communities to live a life integrated with health and wellness. The organization focuses its efforts on childcare centers, schools, recovery and detox facilities, and institutional organizations that are committed to the impact that food can have on healing children and communities. Project Healthy Kids is supporting tangible food system paradigm shifts in communities through projects focused on: Nutrition Cooking Gardening Workforce Development Technical Assistance The following are examples of projects currently underway with even more being built. Food System Expansion: Project Healthy Kids is working with diverse partners to create tangible shifts in the local food system. Project: Central Kitchen Expansion This project (generously funded by the Benedum Foundation in 2023) provides funding and support in expanding the North Central WV Food System.  This aspect of the project brings together local farmers, the Mon County Center, and Healthy Kids Inc. to create a sustainable food preservation business model that can support schools in the year-long use of local produce.  The project also supports the infrastructure expansion to create two additional Central Kitchens in rural West Virginia communities while also documenting a model that can be replicated in other parts of the Appalachia region. In 2024, Project Healthy Kids received generous funding by the Pallottine Foundation of Huntington to support a Central Kitchen in Huntington, WV.  Learn more here! Project: WV Food Systems Expansion Project In an innovative partnership with WV Food & Farm Coalition, nonprofits, private businesses, and healthcare, the WV Food System Expansion Project will expand the Food Production Hub network model across 16 West Virginia counties. The model will provide over 1 million fresh, nutritious meals to institutional buyers and private businesses, including daycare centers, senior centers, and recovery centers. The project will create 40 new jobs and invest over $4.3 million in local agriculture through wholesale purchasing. Project: Summer Feeding In 2024, Project Healthy Kids received grant funding from the Milan Puskar Foundation to support preparing 20,000 summer meals to children throughout West Virginia. Nutrition Programs: Awareness creates personal growth and expansion.  The more we know and understand, the more likely we are to make healthier choices. Project:  WVFEDUP Project Healthy Kids serves as a co-leader and co-creator in the WVFEDUP initiative. This statewide initiative for WV Middle and High Schools helps students create policy, systems, and environmental changes to create a healthier school environment (like installing gardens and filtered water stations in schools). Project:  School Cook Training School cooks and administrators often want to serve healthier foods to students.  In this training, cooks work together with skilled chefs to learn about healthier ingredients and to create new, healthy, recipes that can be used in their school. Technical Assistance Projects As the local food system work expands, the ability to provide technical assistance and marketing support has become increasingly important. Project: Central Kitchen Project for Social Change This hybrid project, in partnership with Healthy Kids Inc. and generously funded by the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Fund, provides technical assistance and marketing support in identifying and piloting new and innovative ways to distributes nutrient dense meals to institutions such as childcare centers, schools, and recovery facilities.  This project aims to create social change to break the cycle and prevalence of ultra-processed foods that children and families consume. In-the-Kitchen Cooking Programs: Introducing children and adults to kitchens and cooking experiences can have a lasting impressing on their life and long-term health. Project:  Kitchen Volunteers Project Healthy Kids facilitates kitchen experiences with volunteers, interns, and community members so that they can see the intricacies involved in a from-scratch kitchen that uses locally grown produce.  Interested in Cooking with the Chefs in the Kitchen?  Volunteer Here Workforce/Recovery Programs: Project Healthy Kids believes in the healing impact that high vibrational cooking experiences, coupled with the freshest locally grown fruits and vegetables, can have on mental and physical wellbeing. Project: Food First: Workforce/Recovery Project Project Healthy Kids is the creator of the Food First project (generously funded by the Benedum Foundation in 2022).  This program utilizes an integrative approach to train recovery participants in culinary arts, nutrition, and agriculture where they can see and experience all facets of the localized food system from seed to table, with an emphasis on preparing foods that heal and nourish children in local Appalachia communities.  Learn more here! Want to partner on a project you're working on? Tell us about it. Our Team At the heart of Project Healthy Kids is a team, board, founders, and partners, all driven by innovative thinking and relentless solution-seeking to create a holistic local food system.  United by our love of children, our local communities, and a commitment to revitalize agriculture, our team is making tangible shifts in WV food systems. Through our collaborative efforts, Project Healthy Kids is becoming a testament to what can be achieved when passion is paired with expertise and a deep commitment to social issues that improve the health of children and communities. Mary Hastings Project Director Brice Haines Program Coordinator Leah Fitzgerald Registered Dietitian Bev Stern Garden Coordinator Jamie Jeffrey, M.D. Pediatric Advisor Our Board Laura Dice Tommy Bailey Aly Gregg Ex Officio Members and Original Founders Mandy Curry Kirk Curry Our Funders and Partners Want to partner on a project you're working on? Tell us about it.