For 25 years these teachers have helped kids rise to the heart challenge
![Since 1998, physical education teachers Jason Feid (left) and John Dempsey of North Attleboro Middle School in Massachusetts have run the school's annual educational event and fundraiser benefiting the AHA. In 2023, their efforts earned them the Outstanding Team of the Year award from the AHA. (图片由Jason Feid提供)](/-/media/Images/Around-the-AHA/Centennial-images/KHCFeidDempsey_SC.jpg?sc_lang=en)
Fundraising for the 美国心脏协会 is serious business at North Attleboro Middle School in Massachusetts.
每年招收约900名学生, the school has earned top state and national donation awards and raised more than $1.自1998年以来,通过一年一度的“为心而打篮球”活动筹集了4800万美元.
该活动是美国心脏协会美国心脏挑战的一部分, 哪个旨在改善社会, 初高中学生的身心健康状况. The AHA hosts a similar program for elementary students called the Kids Heart Challenge. 这些服务学习筹款活动鼓励体育锻炼, 同时提高对心脏健康的捐款和意识, Hands-Only CPR心理健康等等.
Founded in 1924, the AHA began large-scale fundraising with a public-education focus in the late 1940s. The AHA's formal effort to enlist schoolchildren's hearts and minds in the fight against cardiovascular disease began in 1979 after Milwaukee schoolteacher Jean Barkow hosted a jump rope event that combined physical activity with fundraising. 今天的挑战, run by the AHA, provide timely and age-appropriate resources that allow each school to customize how to teach the information and how to raise funds.
在北阿特尔伯勒, physical education teachers Jason Feid and John Dempsey have run the basketball event at their school from the start. Their efforts earned them the Outstanding Team of the Year award from the AHA in 2023.
"The most exciting thing has been seeing the growth each year," Dempsey said. “第一年很令人失望,因为我们只筹集了630美元. 但我们知道我们可以做得更多. Then the kids and the families got more and more involved and supported everything we did.
“这种兴奋是我们前进的动力."
More than 16,000 students at the school have participated over the past 25 years.
"We've been blown away by the number of people who get involved," Feid said. “这是一个高能量的线上娱乐电子游戏网站. Every three years, we have a new set of kids and there is always excitement, always something new."
北阿特伯勒的筹款人, 安排在周三, 今年4月24日, includes a schoolwide party where students participate in a variety of fun events like slam dunk contests, 充气障碍训练场和一个老师的水箱. 学校还欢迎当地名人和其他客人. 一些著名的演讲者包括新英格兰爱国者队的球星, 大学生运动员, 心脏病幸存者等等.
"It's amazing how much the school and community come together that day," Dempsey said. "Older brothers and sisters talk about it, and that builds the excitement for their younger siblings. Some even have stories of when their parents were at the school and did the challenge."
The duo shares credit for the school's success with everyone involved in the event, including staff, parents, 志愿者和社区领袖. 他们也会很快表扬学生.
“中学生很有竞争力,”费德说. "Knowing we are the top school feeds into these kids not wanting to lose that title."
这项挑战还有助于学生适应不断变化的世界.
"It's a huge outreach opportunity for us that helps promote the idea that our physical education department is not just a gym class," Feid said. “我们是健康老师. We use the event as a way to show students that everything is interconnected. Mental health, anxiety, stress, family history, 饮食——当我们试图照顾我们的心脏时,所有这些事情都很重要."
Promoting a healthy lifestyle from a young age is important, the teachers said. The event also helps students feel connected to others dealing with heart problems.
“学生们感觉不那么孤单了,”费德说. "So many times they will say, 'I thought my family was the only one affected by heart disease.'"
这种情绪触及了美联储的痛处, 他47岁的弟弟丹尼尔去年死于心脏病. 这次损失只会加强他对这项活动的投入.
“我们正在做的工作很重要,”他说. "When I ask the kids if their family is affected by heart disease nearly every hand goes up.
“我希望每年举手的人越来越少."