District 58 has donated accumulative $1 million over 30+ years through American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge program
Downers Grove Grade School District 58’s students, staff and families have raised an accumulative $1 million for the American Heart Association over the past 30+ years through the District’s participation in the AHA’s Kids Heart Challenge program (formerly called Jump Rope for Heart).
“On behalf of the American Heart Association, I want to thank District 58 for recognizing the importance of heart health education, as well as providing the community an opportunity to donate to a great cause,” said Allison Henley, youth market director for the American Heart Association. “Only 273 school districts that participate in the Kids Heart Challenge nationwide have ever reached this incredible $1 million milestone! This is an incredible accomplishment!”
Since the early 1990s, District 58 has partnered with the AHA to provide heart health education to elementary students through the Kids Heart Challenge program. This programming complements District 58’s physical education curriculum and includes a variety of physical activities to get elementary students’ hearts pumping such as dance, basketball or jumping rope, paired with digital missions to learn life-saving skills like Hands-Only CPR. In addition, some schools offer additional activities to celebrate the Kids Heart Challenge (although, this has been minimized since COVID-19). For example, Pierce Downer invited families to jump rope with their child at school (pictured above), and Indian Trail celebrated exceeding their fundraising goal by silly stringing the principal.
“District 58 appreciates its partnership with the American Heart Association; their programming enhances our physical education programming each year,” said Superintendent Dr. Kevin Russell. “While we emphasize the curricular side of our AHA partnership, we appreciate all of the District 58 families, staff and community members who have donated to the AHA through the Kids Heart Challenge over the years. The District 58 community is very generous, and this is no exception!”
Learn more about the Kids Heart Challenge and heart health at www.heart.org/KidsHeartChallenge.