LAUSD, Local District 1 Operation School Bell on Wheels
Special Valentine’s Event, February 14, 2008

Submitted by Janis Lake, RN, PHN, MS, Organization Facilitator, LAUSD, Local District 1

The Assistance League of Southern California, “Operation School Bell on Wheels,” will take place on Thursday, February 14th – Valentine’s Day between 8:30 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. at Burton Elementary School, 8111 Calhoun Ave., Panorama City, CA 91402. This program will provide athletic shoes, clothes and for the first time will include fun fitness activities for selected students from over 32 valley schools. In connection with our District 1 Wellness Initiative to reduce childhood obesity we are promoting the importance of physical fitness by teaching students and parents to hula hoop, jump robe and use pedometers. Our District 1 Wellness Initiative with Northridge Hospital, welcomes Jean Hooper from Hoop’n with Hooper to our collaborative partnership. This Initiative promotes the importance of physical fitness, eating healthy foods and seeks to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity.

Operation School Bell (OSB) on Wheels is a service provided by the volunteers of Anne Banning Auxiliary, Assistance League of Southern California.  Their 72 foot trailer will be parked on the playground at Burton Elementary. Athletic shoes, and backpacks filled with school supplies and fitness fun activities will be provided for 192 students who come from low income families. Twenty-two elementary schools and 10 middle schools within District 1 will send their students to this event with the assistance of our PSA counselors, school nurses, District 1 staff and parents. The mission of Operation School Bell on Wheels is to enhance self-esteem, to promote learning, and encourage regular school attendance.

In recognition of the problem of childhood obesity for this special Operation School Bell Valentine’s event we will be teaching students, parents and staff to hula hoop, jump robe and use pedometers. Selected schools will also receive pedometers, hula hoops, and jump ropes. Jean Hooper from Hoop’n with Hooper, Los Angeles School Police Department, Explorer Scouts, Local District 1 School Based Clinic, and Northridge Hospital staff are all assisting the Assistance League of Southern California with the Operation School Bell Valentine’s Program.

Assistance League of Southern California will provide each student with athletic shoes, 2 uniforms plus 3 polo shirts, 1 belt, 5 pairs of socks, 5 pairs of underwear, 1 jacket, a backpack filled with school supplies, a book, dictionary, and grooming kit. Operation School Bell on Wheels is an efficient response to children in extreme need.  Having Operation School Bell on Wheels come at the beginning of the new semester helps our students get off to the right start.  With the help of District 1 school nurses, pupil service and attendance counselors, District 1van drivers, school based clinic case managers we are pleased that over 192 children will be served from over 32 valley schools. Because District 1 is located far from Hollywood, having the fully equipped semi truck and trailer come to this valley location streamlines our ability to service many more children. The services are provided in only a fraction of the time, enabling many more students to be served, and means that our students and staff will not have to miss as much valuable school time in the process.
Over 192 appointments have been made for children (and their siblings) from the following 10 middle schools: Sepulveda MS, Columbus MS, Northridge MS, Mulholland MS, Vista MS, Holmes MS, and Sutter MS. Elementary students from 22 elementary schools will be served including Burton, Capistrano, Anatola, Gault, Hart, Canoga Park, Tarzana, Sunny Brae, Fullbright, Napa, Shirley, Tarzana, Panorama City, Tulsa, Noble, Rosa Parks, Langdon, Gledhill, Parthenia, Chase, Sylvan Park, Gledhill, and Plummer will also be served

Operation School Bell on Wheels Program is truly much more than a service project. This Valentine’s Day it will bring hands-on hope, happiness, and will show the children that they are valued and loved. The service provided by the volunteers conveys what a relatively small, yet extremely dedicated wonderful group of partners can accomplish in less than 5 hours! This is truly a shining example for our entire school community and the entire City of Los Angeles.

School Board Member Julie Korenstein will be providing certificates to thank our Operation School Bell volunteers and partner agencies for helping underprivileged students and families at this Valentine’s Day event. A “heartfelt” thank you to the Assistance League Chairperson, Debby Berg, Local District 1 Organization Facilitator, Janis Lake, Marisa Gonzalez, Case Manager Local District 1 and Roger Wilcox, Burton Elementary School for organizing this special Valentine’s Day event. For questions please contact Janis Lake, Organization Facilitator, Los Angeles Unified School District, Local District 1 at (818) 809-6226 or Debby Berg at (818) 310-429-8774 or Cheri Thomas, Coordinated School Health Facilitator at (213) 241-2684.

HAPPY HOOPER KID CADETS AT 2008 PASADENA DOO DAH PARADE

WHO:   Jean Hooper, America’s Favorite Hooper, will lead a brigade of HAPPY HOOPERS— “Kid Cadet” students from Crescent Heights Elementary and Curtiss Glenn Middle School in the 31st “Occasional” Pasadena Doo Dah Parade.  Hooper and the kids, a.k.a. the “Happy Hooper’s”, will jump, spin, clap their hands and hoop their way down the parade route grooving to the kids favorite songs from “High School Musical” and High School Musical II”, the Disney Classic movies!

Hooper uses new and improved Wave Hoops.  These are not your ordinary hoops!  The “Wave Hoop” is a revolutionary water weighted hoop made by Maui Toys.  Miss Hooper, better known as Hoop'n with Hooper, offers a “Fitness made Fun” program that teaches kids and adults how to get fit and be active while having PURE FUN with her “easy to learn” dance routines using Wave Hoops. To date, Hooper has successfully taught over 200,000 elementary, junior high and high school students, in all eight districts of Los Angeles, through the Los Angeles LAUSD Nutrition Network Program, a Non-profit organization that promotes a healthy active lifestyle for kids in the underserved communities.  Hooper says, “I created this program to inspire and encourage kids to be active, eat healthy, and have fun everyday!”

WHAT:  Hooper and her Happy Hooper’s will excite the crowd and interact with them, encouraging everyone to “Hoop with Me!”  According to Hooper, “Wave Hooping” is an amazing form of exercise, and is so much fun you don’t even realize that you’re working out!  The water inside the Wave Hoop works as a counter balance, so the hoop goes around by itself with little to no effort, allowing her to teach people who could never hoop before. It is her life’s passion and dream to get everyone in America “up off the couch” and hooping, in effort to help combat the ever growing childhood obesity epidemic.  As a former “Couch Potato” Hooper believes it is her “energetic style” of Wave Hooping that will inspire and encourage others to get up of the couch and get fit!  …This program can change the way we look at exercise, which will--in effect, greatly improve the general health of kids and adults, as well as boost their self esteem, she notes.

WHEN:  Pasadena Doo Dah Parade - Sun. Jan. 20, 2008, 11:30 a.m.
WHERE:  Old Town Pasadena
WEBSITES: www.hoopwithme.com  www.pasadenadoodahparade.info