Delta Business Journal: Glenn Foundation Provides Food & Health Education

 

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By Becky Gillette. This story was reprinted with the permission of the Delta Business Journal

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 Cleveland natives give back with programs providing food and health education
The 11 children of Essie B. and William Earl Glenn grew up in Cleveland  and  attended  H.M Nailor Elementary School where their mother was a lunchroom cook for 15 years. The siblings went on to become criminal justice investigators, lab workers, business-owners, doctors, lawyers and dentists.
And although only one still lives in Cleveland, they have a big philanthropic presence in Cleveland through their non-profit, the Essie B. and William Earl Glenn Foundation.
The mission of the foundation is to improve life outcomes for disadvantaged families, children, and youth in the Mississippi Delta. Dr. Helen Beady, secretary for the organization, said the family members meet regularly to discuss how to promote their programs to provide food security and health literacy.

“With our summer feeding imitative that began June 5, we will feed an average 3,500 kids at H.M. Nailor Elementary,” Beady says. “We do this program in partnership with the Mississippi Food Network. The Glenn Foundation was actually founded and is predicated on the values our parents taught us. We were drawn to go back to the neighborhood where we grew up.”
Beady says the purpose of the Glenn Foundation is simple, but profound. It is based on enabling and enriching the lives of people in the Delta and addressing health disparities.
“The focus of our work is around nutritional literacy, edible gardens, hunger and food insecurity,” Beady says. “Our partnerships for the most part have been with the Cleveland and Bolivar County schools. We also work in Rosedale, too. A program funded through the Mississippi Department of Health called Becoming A Responsible Teen (BART) utilizes a decision tree to teach students how to make responsible decisions. Delta State University Department of Nutrition and Dietetics assist our efforts by providing nutrition and dietetic interns during after school programs.
“To help bolster our work, we utilize an evidenced-based program entitled the Coordinated Approach To Child’s Health (CATCH). A retired nurse educator conducts the healthy living classes, and the dietetic interns assist. We are trying to build a healthier community, and what better way to start that with our children?”
Combating obesity is another goal. The Delta has some of the highest obesity rates in the country.
“A lot of obesity is seen starting in children because they are not eating healthy,” Beady says. “Our goal is to partner with the afterschool program to teach children about sustainability and gardening. Once a year, we host a community health fair called the Health, Wellness and Safety Tailgate. It is usually around homecoming. The fair draws healthcare providers from around the Delta who provide services to the communities.”

Beady’s husband, Dr. Charles H. Beady, Jr. is president and CEO of the nonprofit Mississippi Food Network, the only statewide Feeding America food bank in Mississippi.
“They provide us with the food,” says Beady, whose full-time day job is senior director of programs in Mississippi for the American Heart Association. “We just have to pay our staff. We serve infants to those 18 years of age, and children with disabilities.”
Another activity is the Youth Enrichment Summit (YES) held in June with motivational speakers and a chef to demonstrate healthy cooking.

“We teach them how to prepare healthy snacks that they can eat at home, instead of eating things like chips, popcorn and candy,” Beady says. “We have one person who does exercise tips and another person talks about smoking. It is not hip to smoke. E cigarettes are a big thing, and can lead to smoking that can cause heart attacks or strokes. Students get a stipend for attending, plus t-shirts and a healthy meal. Parents are welcome to come.”
Another activity was partnering with Hope and Comfort a Boston-based non- profit, who provided health kits for students. The kits supplied homeless students with items such as shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, shavers, etc. It is of special note that the kits shipped to Cleveland were packed by members of the New England Patriots. Beady and her siblings love the work done by the Glenn Foundation.

“We all volunteer our time,” she says. “We financially support and enable our work. We have other supporters like Mayor Billy Nowell, who knew our parents and supports our work. The police department partners with us to provide safe ingress and egress for students attending summer feeding programs.”
For more information, visit the website www.glennfoundation.net or the foundation’s Facebook page. 

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