The second Family Fun Night of the new year took place at the William S. Greene Elementary School on February 8, 2017. Partners School Wellness Coordinator Marcia Picard welcomed 260 parents and children to participate in a program that engages them in some healthy movement while learning about nutrition and a range of community resources that they can access to maintain or improve their health. Participants were offered sessions on nutrition by the UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program and one on movement with Kim Ferrara and Ashley Field of WiggleKids. Participants also had the opportunity to speak with representatives of eighteen agencies including BMC HealthNet Plan, Child and Family Services, Children's Advocacy Center, Department of Children and Families Foster Parenting, Early Childhood/Family Community Engagement, Fall River Parent Academy,  Head Start, HealthFirst Dental Program, Katie Brown Education Program, Mass in Motion/Walk Fall River, New York Life Insurance, People Incorporated, Saint Anne' Hospital, Southcoast Health, SSTAR, WIC, the Fall River Women's Center and Partners for a Healthier Community covering its Soda-Free Challenge. Click here for a 30-minute video of the event. Click here for photos and video of last year's event and here for an earlier event at the Tansey School. For more information, contact School Wellness Coordinator Marcia Picard at 774-319-0107.

(Top row) Greene School Adjustment Counselor Robin Thorpe welcomes Elizabeth Gonzalez and six-year-old Rachel Molina before Partners School Wellness Coordinator Marcia Picard welcomes 260 people to the event. (Rows two and three) UMass Extension Nutrition Education Program Educator Sue Loughlin introduces herself and the other Nutrition Educators before Lindsay Megan demonstrates how to prepare a silly fusilli chili recipe. (Rows four and five) WiggleKids Coach Kim Ferrara invites each of the three groups to play some active games, including "cones and volcanoes" and pool noodle fun. (Row six) After Greene School Physical Education Teacher Todd Jeffries, in orange, links arms with parents, as Ashley Field leads another group with pool noodles. (Row seven) Partners Staff Member Angela Bras talks with parents and children about reducing or eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages while Stephanie Joyale of the Children's Advocacy Center talks with a parent. (Row eight, left and center) Janice Velozo of Mass in Motion/Walk Fall River points to a map of the new Alfred J. Lima Quequechan River Trail and then stands in front of a poster for What's Cooking Fall River. (Row eight, right, and bottom row) Ms. Picard welcomes Greene School Dean of Students Nichole Amaral to the stage where she and Ms. Thorpe draw winning door prize numbers, including one for one of ten bags of groceries provided by Southcoast Health that six-year-old Camari G. Springer picks up for his mother, Chiquilla Gomes.