Healthier Jupiter 2019/2020 Mini-Grant Coronavirus (COVID-19) Check Ins
In October 2019, Healthier Jupiter awarded $2,500 Mini-Grants to impact the health of our community to 8 organizations during our Community Grants BBQ. The goal of the Mini-Grant program is to engage our community leaders and organizations in creating innovative approaches to healthy living and chronic disease prevention to serve the greater Jupiter community.
Originally, our Mini-Grant awardees were to have their projects completed by November 2020. However, with all that is going on with the COVID-19 pandemic there is a great need to be adaptive and flexible. Healthier Jupiter’s committee members have agreed to be flexible with the deadline to complete the 2019-2020 Mini-Grant. We want our Mini-Grant awardees to be able to properly execute their ideas, adjust activities or brainstorm alternatives as they see fit for their community. Healthier Jupiter brainstormed several options available to Mini-Grant awardees:
Postpone the grant activities to later this year or even next year
Transition projects, activities and/or events to virtual or online, or printable versions. I do have a lot of backpacks and envelopes that you all are more than welcome to have to transition your projects.
Use the funds to address a more pressing health need in our community arising from the coronavirus (COVID-19), specifically around food access, physical activity or promoting social connection.
Return the funds and cancel the grant. Healthier Jupiter is here to support you and we are available to help brainstorm a new strategy, however, we understand that working with this grant may be too much of a burden during this crisis. The returned funds would be used to address immediate needs in our, especially around feeding our community.
We are always open to other ideas.
Since the community was the ones that voted who was to receive the Mini-Grant, we want you all to know what the awardees have decided. Here are the 2019-2020 Mini-Grant updates…
“Eating for the Future” encouraged residents of jupiter to practice healthy behaviors, including physical exercise, healthy eating and cognitive stimulation to promote lifelong physical and brain health through several community education events. To encourage participation and to demonstrate healthy eating suggestions, a healthy meal will be provided for attendees.
Alzheimer’s Community Care staff have completed virtually all of the tasks associated with the grant. They created all of the printed materials, including a unique Spanish/English MIND Diet wallet card as a helpful tool for choosing healthy foods at the grocery store. They have presented to 84 El Sol attendees with “doutstanding feedback”. The Edna Runner Tutorial Center presentation was scheduled for March 31st, and is now on hold due to COVID-19. They are ready to present and serve the MIND Diet meal as soon as it is rescheduled. According to the Edna Runner Tutorial Center, they would reach 50 to 60 seniors. They are requesting an extension so that they can complete the final phase which is the presentation to the seniors at the Edna Runner Tutorial Center.
You can check out Alzheimer’s Community Care’s response to COVID-19 here.
"Brain Blitz Jupiter – Exercise Your Mind" is a hands-on brain education program for young people and adults which we plan to hold at the Jupiter Jubilee in February 2020 - a well attended public event in the Brain Institute’s own “back yard.” We will have demonstration tables with healthy brain activities where children and adults can interact with, learn from, and take home mental and physical activities that promote life-long healthy brain behaviors. Participants would be provided with a free family entry to the South Florida Science Center.
The Jupiter Jubilee in February was cancelled and not rescheduled. They were brainstorming other options of how to reach the Jupiter community, through other community events or partnerships. However, with COVID-19, the FAU Brain Institute will use the grant award of $2,500 from the Healthier Jupiter Initiative to support students on the Jupiter campus who are in COVID19 distress. The FAU Cares Fund has been set up to support all degree seeking students who are in distress and who complete an application for financial support to assist them with their daily living and education needs. The Healthier Jupiter funds were specifically for students of the FAU Honors College - Jupiter Campus. As of June 2020, 10 students from FAU Jupiter Campus have applied for, and received, emergency funds with an average gift of $575. We received a message on June 9, 2020 from one of the students that received the emergency funds…
“Dear Friends of Health(ier) Jupiter, The funding I received from Health(ier) Jupiter was enormously helpful. Before graduation, I was an out of state student living 15 hours away from my closest family members. I lived off-campus in an apartment, and my parents had been helping me financially, but when COVID hit, my mom was furloughed, and my dad lost most of his work as well. Their income plummeted, and they were no longer able to help me out because they were struggling to make ends meet on their own. I was in a situation where I did not have enough money to continue paying rent and buy groceries, all while trying to finish the toughest semester of my college career. It was a very stressful time, to say the least. The money I received through the FAU Cares Fund/Health(ier) Jupiter helped alleviate this stress and helped me pay my rent and put food on the table. I do not know what I would have done if it weren’t for the generous donors behind your organization. Thank you - with gratitude” - Emily H., Class of 2020
You can check out Florida Atlantic University’s response to COVID-19 here.
JMST Hydroponic Garden project’s goal is to create a hydroponic growing system. This project will allow the entire Culinary Program, which consists of 150 students, to be hands on with gardening and produce on a weekly basis. The Science Department will be able to utilize the garden when students learn about cellular respiration and photosynthesis since they will have the seed system in their classroom. The STEAM Academy will be responsible for the construction of the garden; they will also learn and observe the benefits of hydroponic gardening and its impact on sustainability and urban farming.
The original proposed completion date was the end of the 2019/2020 school year. However, with Palm Beach County School District Campuses closed for the remainder of the 2019/2020 school year this project is on hold. The tower garden pieces for the hyrdoponic growing system have been purchased but have not been assembled. They will start the tower garden program in the next school year.
You can check out what is going on at the Palm Beach County School District on their “What’s New” Page
Follow Chef Greg Launel + his Culinary students on facebook.
4) MyClinic
The “Improving Access to Care for El Sol Clients” project intended to provide a patient navigator on site at El Sol every other week to introduce El Sol workers and their families to MyClinic services, complete the eligibility process and facilitate new patient registration. Once registered, MyClinic navigator will assign an appointment time at MyClinic for an initial health assessment visit. This project would improve access to medical and behavioral health care.
MyClinic is working tirelessly to meet patients physical and behavioral health needs during COVID-19. They are providing telehealth, wellness calls and distributing accurate COVID-19 information. Additionally, MyClinic staff continuously connects their patients to local resources. MyClinic is working on adjusting their activities related to the Healthier Jupiter Mini-Grant given the new health care delivery environment. There is so much need now and there will be in the future so MyClinic is considering other ways to assist their population, including new approaches related to telemed.
Check out MyClinic’s Facebook for great information and videos related to COVID-19 and seeking care, including many resources in Spanish. MyClinic has shared an important video about the steps they are taking during COVID-19. Watch below…
“The Marjorie S. Fischer Nutrition Driven Gets Cooking 2.0” planned on collaborating with the University of Florida IFAS/Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension, which they have partnered with since 2014, to provide nutrition education and groceries to food insecure areas of Palm Beach County. Trained multilingual UF Program Assistants apply Expanded Food and Nutrition Education (EFNEP) principles to teach core nutritional values, food safety, exercise and preparation of simple recipes through an 8-week evidence-based curriculum. For this project, Palm Beach County Food Bank proposes building off the success of Nutrition Driven by including an additional incentive: a crock-pot and recipes that will allow participants the means to cook the food they receive in a healthy manner.
The plan was to have the classes take place Spring 2020 at El Sol, Jupiter’s Neighborhood Resource Center. Palm Beach County Food Bank already purchased the crockpots and cookbooks - 85 in total!
With all the critical work Palm Beach County Food Bank is doing to feed our community during the COVID-19 crisis, the 85 crockpots are taking up critical space needed in the food bank’s warehouse. Additionally, the Nutrition Driven education class have been put on hold.
El Sol was able to receive the 85 crockpots and hand them out as part of their food distribution to those who need them during COVID-19. Thank you to all the amazing staff involved in making this a reality for the community.
“A Healthy Me, A Healthy Sea” is equipping adults with intellectual and developmental challenges with knowledge and skills to lead healthy, physically active lives every month, and motivate and coach participants to engage in healthy behaviors through enjoyable outdoor recreation, healthy eating, and stress-relieving exercises. The project will offer one two-hour events a month to STA’s existing iCare Program participants in an outdoor setting to engage in fitness activities (e.g., yoga, kayaking, nature walks), clean up the natural surroundings, and enjoy a healthy snack together. We anticipate 20 people participating per event. The project timeframe is 12 months, starting in December 2019 with completion in November 2020. Each project event will take place at different parks and beach locations within the Town of Jupiter.
Two of the 12 Healthier Jupiter events are complete (our Jan and Feb events). Our 3rd was scheduled for 3/28 and has been cancelled. As there is uncertainty of how long we will be dealing with COVID-19, Sea Turtle Adventures staff decided to put together interactive kits that they would deliver outside of each person’s home for them to be active. Each kit includes hours and hours of interactive nature-based activities meant to be completed in one’s yard or inside the home. Pedometers, neighborhood cleanup supplies, and painting supplies for sea turtle stakes would be included in the kits (in a fun bright orange Healthier Jupiter bag). The goal is to provide something that is hands on active. Check out the amazing photos below of the kits…
“StreetWaves Swim and Surf Immersion” program is designed to expose the health, safety and environmental awareness benefits of swimming and surfing. This program would take place during this school year to be completed in a 1 week Swim and Surf Summer Camp 2020. We would teach swimming, surfing, ocean safety and environmental awareness to youth from Edna W. Runner Tutorial Center. Lessons will take place at the North County Aquatic Complex and at Jupiter Beach.
Edna Runner Tutorial Center has made the tough decision to switch to a virtual summer camp for Summer 2020. The StreetWaves Swim and Surf Immersion program will happen in Summer 2021. We excited for those students to have that opportunity next summer. In the meantime, staff will work together to brainstorm how StreetWaves and Healthier Jupiter can continue to work together.
8) Student ACES
“Student ACES Mental Health Initiative” will teach Mental Health First Aid to team captains at Jupiter High School. This course gives students the tools to identify someone who might be struggling with a mental health our substance use problem and how to connect them to resources.
The Student ACES at Jupiter High School completed their project and have placed mental health as a priority of the ACES Jupiter program. As they work to eliminate the stigma of mental illness through education, communication and proactive brain health. In addition, they are actively fundraising to be able to provide a scholarship in Simon Baker's name. Simon Baker's legacy of helping others and selflessness will live on through many lives that will be impacted by the work of his friends, teammates and family.
We will be putting the planning of our next 2020-2021 Mini-Grant program on hold. We will reevaluate next month to see how we should progress. Want to be the first to know about our 2020-2021 Mini-Grant program? Click here to fill out an interest form.
If you are interested in joining Healthier Jupiter’s Mini-Grant planning committee, please reach out to us at 561-263-7579 or by email at healthierjupiter@htpbc.org
Any additional questions about Healthier Jupiter’s Mini-Grant Program, please contact Joanna Peluso, Healthier Jupiter’s Project Manager at 561-234-0182 or by email at joanna.peluso@jupitermed.com