A good way to raise money for a good cause

Dear Editor:

It has been a week and a half since the great success of the first annual Nevada R-5 Marching Band 5-K Jog/Walk. Only now do I belatedly put ink to paper (or fingers to keyboard, as it were), to congratulate the band and the band parents on a job most excellently done! A special hats-off should be directed to Anne Jones (parent of junior Bailey Jones, trumpet section), who envisioned this massively lucrative project, and inspired the rest of us to jump on board! Her drive, her imagination, and most of all, her passion for the kids, are what parent involvement is all about. In addition, thank you, Anne, band parents, and Mr. and Mrs. Meyer, our band directors, for developing a project that supports our community health and wellness by creating a fund-raiser that is a wonderful alternative to selling the traditional candy bars and cookie dough, et. al.

As many people are now aware, our society is suffering from both extremes of what is commonly misunderstood as a "weight" issue -- medical obesity vs. anorexia-bulimia. Thank you, Nevada Daily Mail, for the two recent articles, one on each problem, illustrating that our challenge is to not see this as merely a weight issue, but in fact, a health issue. As a public school nurse, I hope we can continue to promote this concept to our community, and especially to our children, through additional health-engaging activities, fund-raisers, and rewards that do not include the Americanized food groups of sugar, fat, and sodium, but instead encourage good decision-making skills for nutrition and exercise. Our children's future depends on it.

And p.s. -- thanks also to May's Floral for the great window display of a bicycle-built-for-two! Now's a beautiful time to pull the old bike out of the garage and join the area bike club at 4:30 p.m. on Sundays, south side of the Square. (Just thought I'd plug that one for free.)

Respectfully,

Dawn Jones, RN