Twice a week, while other students settle in with books at the Rockefeller Library or lounge on the steps of Faunce House, eight Brown student volunteers discuss nutrition with a group of Providence-area middle school girls.
The students, led by program coordinators Allison Barkley '07 and Bethany Allen '07, teach fitness and nutrition to girls aged 11 to 13 at Roger Williams Middle School. The program, called FitNut, is run by Project Health, a national nonprofit organization.
The FitNut volunteers spend about an hour and 15 minutes every Tuesday and Thursday with the girls, participating in activities and playing games that focus on nutrition and fitness. At least 20 minutes of that time is designated for "get(ting) their heart rates going" by playing tag or basketball, Allen said. The volunteers also encourage the girls to get involved in sports outside of the FitNut program.
FitNut has 15 participants at Roger Williams who attend the sessions regularly, most of whom are "minority, low-income students," according to Barkley. This coincides with Project Health's more general goal, which is "to break the link between poverty and poor health," according to the Project Health Web site.
Allen said such a link between poverty and poor health is readily apparent, among FitNut participants.
"I have girls say to me, 'I don't go running because my neighborhood isn't safe,' or 'I can't play on the field because it's covered with glass and needles,'" Allen said.
In addition to teaching lessons and planning activities, FitNut volunteers also mentor between one and three girls in the program. Mentors help each girl set goals for herself, and in the process they get to know the girls personally. As a part of the mentoring process, volunteers call each girl once a week to check up on her and try to engage her family in the health awareness process, according to Barkley.
Barkley and Allen spent this past summer researching and updating the FitNut curriculum. In addition to talking to doctors and other health professionals, they wrote lesson plans in order to give the program more structure and meaning than it has had in previous years.
Barkley said some of the girls have been in the program for every year of middle school, and about half of this year's participants were also involved last year. It is easiest to see FitNut's positive effects in these girls, she said. However, she added, it's hard to statistically measure the effectiveness of the program, especially since the primary goal of the program is not a quantifiable measure like weight loss.
FitNut targeted Roger Williams as a program base because Project Health tries to promote health awareness in "low-income, disadvantaged communities" such as the one surrounding the middle school, according to Sonia Rodrigues-Carr, the Providence site director of Project Health.
"It has to do with economics and location," Rodrigues-Carr said.
Alex Molina, the Lower South Side coordinator of the Afterzone Program, which oversees after-school programs at schools including Roger Williams, is enthusiastic about the FitNut program. "We bend over backwards to try to get quality programs, and FitNut is a quality program that gets students engaged and active," Molina said.
Project Health operates at eight college campuses across the country, including Brown. In addition to FitNut, Project Health runs a program in Providence called Asthma Swim, which teaches children with asthma how to swim and deal with their condition. Project Health also runs a Family Help Desk in the pediatric outpatient clinic at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence that works to connect needy families to resources such as housing, food stamps and childcare.
Project Health recruits volunteers on campus at the beginning of every semester and currently has over 40 total committed volunteers at Brown. Rodrigues-Carr said student volunteers put in a "professional level of work that you usually see only from (college) graduates."
Project Health was started at Harvard University by Rebecca Olney, who is now the executive director of the national organization. Project Health came to Brown seven years ago, though FitNut is currently only in its third year of operation in Providence. Project Health is funded primarily through private donations, though it also receives grants from foundations such as Blue Angels.
As campus coordinators for Project Health, Jennifer Andreozzi '07 and Anna Levine '08 oversee its programs and community partnerships. Levine described their role as determining "everything from, 'How is Asthma Swim going to get a pool?' to 'How should we evaluate these programs?'"
Andreozzi added that Project Health leaders are currently working to try to make it more of an advocacy group for families that it aids by becoming knowledgeable about state and local legislation as well as engaging in efforts such as letter-writing campaigns.
Barkley said working with FitNut has given her perspective and knowledge about the city, which she now knows more about than her hometown.
"It's a completely different world on the South Side," Barkley said.
"I feel like I've earned my right to say that I live in Providence," Allen agreed.
Levine emphasized that because of the nature of Project Health's programs, volunteers often form very personal relationships with the children and their families.
"The power we have to speak English, have access to a phone and to the Internet is way more than a good start for helping people," Levine said. "You can't help but help them."
