TAMPA, FLORIDA, OCTOBER 11, 2017 – Building on her platform “Healthy Food For All,” MAOTeen 2018, Jessica Baeder, has been named Youth Ambassador for the Get Healthy Talladega County afterschool and summer meals initiative. Jessica has recorded commercials and PSAs that are part of a video series for CHAMPS (Cities Combating Hunger through Afterschool and Summer Meal Programs). These videos will be shown in elementary schools to support the “Seed to Plate” and “Choose My Plate” and aim to provide education about the importance of choosing healthy foods and staying fit. They also include information about gardening, identifying fruits and vegetables and gardening tools.

“Too many children face a hunger gap between school lunch and the next school day’s breakfast,” said Baeder. “The Afterschool Meal Program provides nutritious meals alongside enrichment activities in a safe and supervised environment and helps combat childhood hunger. I am proud to be an Ambassador.”

Jessica will have the opportunity to travel all across the country and talk with students about this topic. Having become a second degree black belt at the age of 9, Jessica combines her Tae Kwon Do skills and philanthropic spirit to teach “Fit for Life” lessons at schools, emphasizing nutrition and fitness. Jessica wants to ensure that everyone has the information and opportunity to make good decisions about their health. She is committed to hands-on service, being a voice for positive change, and creating a nation of healthier children and families.

“It is important that children have the nutrition they need to grow up healthy, happy and prepared to succeed,” Baeder continued. . “I want to thank all the partners working together to increase access to this vital program: CHAMPS; Ending Childhood Hunger Alabama; the City of Sylacauga; the Alabama State Department of Education; FRAC (Food Research and Action Center); Get Healthy Talladega County Network; the Sylacauga City Schools and the FBLA and Journalism chapters at Sylacauga High School; the Talladega City Schools; Talladega County Schools; Alabama Food Solutions and the sponsoring agency, the SAFE Family Services Center.”

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The Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Organization, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is one of the nation’s leading achievement programs. The MAOTeen organization encourages positive achievement by helping to nurture and build the scholastic achievement, creative accomplishment, healthy living, and community involvement of our nation’s young women. MAOTeen provides educational scholarships for deserving young people and has developed mentoring programs and community-based initiatives across the country. The Miss America’s Outstanding Teen organization has a long-standing relationship with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Through this partnership, MAOTeen contestants raise over $300,000 annually to benefit CMN Hospitals and MAOTeen scholarships. Additional information about the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen organization can be found at www.maoteen.org.

The mission of the Get Healthy Talladega County Network is to develop a collaborative network to promote health and wellness in Talladega County through education, engagement and the implementation of strategic health and wellness initiatives. The populations targeted for program-specific intervention include the school-age children and their families who are enrolled in the Sylacauga City, Talladega County and Talladega City Schools and adults who have been diagnosed with or who are at risk of developing chronic diseases, people with disabilities, and the frail elderly.

CHAMPS is a project of the National League of Cities (NLC) and the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC). Supported by the Walmart Foundation, NLC and FRAC provide grant funding and technical assistance to cities to increase participation in the Afterschool and Summer Meal Programs.