By The Rev. Dr. Arlecia Simmons, East Regional Associate Director, PHW

Our justice and wellness work can often consume much of our physical and emotional energy. We believe participating in the 2022 Faith and Health Summit was an investment in our lives and our joint mission of fostering healthy communities. We are grateful for our agency, coalition, and congregational partners who gathered on September 15 for the 2022 Faith and Health Summit held at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. The downtown property provided the space for our collective time of being “Mindful Together.” 

We want to thank participants for their cooperation as we executed our COVID-19 protocol of onsite testing to ensure everyone’s safety, especially medically vulnerable members of our community. While we may have different views on vaccinations and masking, we desire to care for our neighbors and protect all in our midst. 

Although we have completed the experience, we trust that congregational partners will incorporate or model something seen during the day into future activities. Whether you consider inviting local farmers to vend at community events or dining options, may your takeaway be the intentionality of replenishing time offered through yoga, cornhole, or a walk in the garden. Throughout the day, we heard the voices of the children in the church’s preschool, who didn’t struggle with having a good time on the playground. May we, too, remember to laugh and play and enjoy the gift of sunshine beyond our time together. 

We trust that our coalition alliances and organizational partners heard the concerns and needs of members of the communities they serve and will consider them to enhance your services. 

If you made a connection at the Summit, please follow up on those promises of information or handouts, schedule a video chat, or plan ways to continue engaging in the conversations started or restarted. And if nothing else, please share what you have learned with others so that we can extend the circle of being “Mindful Together.” Finally, we trust that all in attendance felt the breath of God through the myriad of encounters and words spoken.

In the next few weeks, videos of the Summit workshops will be made available. If you have feedback that would be helpful, please feel free to share them via the survey link sent to the email address provided at registration. A digital copy of our program booklet is also available by request.

Until next time, continue to stay engaged digitally with PHW and blessings upon the work in your respective communities!

By Nicole Johnson, Co-Director, PHW

The first Monday in October every year is National Child Health Day. The month of October every year is Children’s Health Month. This year, October 1-8 is focused on Maternal Health, October 9-15 is focused on Infants and Toddlers, October 16-22 is focused on School-Aged Children and Adolescents, and October 23-29 is National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week. Why a whole month? Because where our children live, learn, play/move, and worship during all stages of their lives is important for them to be able to live long, healthy lives.

For the Partners in Health and Wholeness team, we would say, not just long, healthy lives, but lives that reflect wholeness in mind, body, and spirit. The foundation of wholeness in mind, body, and spirit rests on a theological value of human beings made imago dei (in the image of God) and therefore children made imago dei. When we say, as people of faith, that human beings are made imago dei, we mean all people, children, women, men, able-bodied or differently abled, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, socioeconomic status, rural or urban, and of any religion. This language of faith communicates some things about our children that we want to highlight this Children’s Health Month:

• Children should be loved wholly and truly, able to live without fear, shame, and trauma
• Children have inherent worth that does not depend on the status of any of their caregivers/parents
• Children are worthy of the care and protection of the adults in their lives
• God cares about the whole child and intends for children to live lives of shalom

This Children’s Health Month we challenge you to think and explore the ways in which your worshiping community communicates that children are important; to them and to everyone around them. Does your faith and health ministry support practices that make sure the children in your church know they are loved? Does your faith and health ministry have spaces for children to move? Does your faith and ministry provide knowledge, activities, and opportunities to learn about supporting the health of children? Does your faith leader include children in your worship space as appropriate for your community? Does your faith and health ministry provide fruit and vegetables that celebrate healthy food in ways that appeal to children? Does your faith and health ministry support healthy choices for families making it easy for them to choose healthy options?

Here are two resources that you can use and share with caregivers/parents of the children in your community: Children's Health Tips and Student Curriculum: Recipes for Healthy Kids and a Healthy Environment.

This Children’s Health Month let’s embrace that our children are made imago dei.

By Nicole Johnson, Co-Director, PHW

Earlier this year, we asked for your feedback on the children and youth who smoke, vape, and/or use nicotine in your churches. The consensus after we collected the responses from our surveys is that generally speaking, many of you are not sure if your children and youth smoke, vape, and/or use nicotine. Many of you are also not sure how much your children and youth are exposed to smoking, vaping, and nicotine use/products. We took your feedback and held a panel on Children/Youth and Vaping at the Faith and Health Summit. Additionally, we are planning a series of workshops on children/youth and their exposure to and use of nicotine products for next year.

Until then, and in the spirit of Children’s Health Month, we wanted to share some information with you from the NC Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch on the increasing use of nicotine products including e-cigarettes (vaping) by children and youth in North Carolina.

• Between 2011 and 2017 E-Cigarette use increased by 430% among middle schoolers and 894% among high schoolers in North Carolina
• 10.7% of middle schoolers and 28.8% of high schoolers in North Carolina use tobacco products
• Almost 80% of adults who use tobacco products started when they were children/teens
• Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine and other substances that harm the developing brain
• Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine
• More resources here: Harmful Tobacco Products Threaten NC Youth Health, Nicotine in E-Cigarettes: No Amount is Safe for Young People, E-Cigarettes 101: Fact Sheet

We encourage your faith community to learn more about the air our children breathe by becoming more aware of the nicotine products they are being exposed to as well as ways to empower youth to prevent tobacco and nicotine use. Their long-term health depends on it. 

New grant opportunity! Partners in Health and Wholeness is thrilled to announce a new mental health funding opportunity for BIPOC (Black & Brown, Indigenous, People of Color) faith communities.

Thanks to The Duke Endowment, PHW is able to offer this new grant opportunity of $5,000-10,000 for faith communities of color to apply towards COVID-19 mental health efforts. We plan to award 50 grants in this funding range throughout the entire state. Later this year, there will be more information about an opportunity to apply for a large grant, up to $50,000, to establish or expand a mental health resource hub in your region. This application period for this grant opportunity will be rolling, with quarterly reviews, until May 2023.

Submitted by Elizabeth Brewington, Associate Director, Overdose Response & HIV Advocacy, PHW

Make these rice paper wraps for an easy snack or appetizer. Kids will love them and they’re wholesome too.

You'll need:

• 50g rice vermicelli noodles
• 1 carrot, peeled
• 1 avocado, peeled and destoned
• ¼ cucumber
• 8 rice paper wraps
• 8 king prawns, peeled and cooked
• 8 mint leaves
• ½ cooked chicken breast, shredded
• sweet chili sauce, to serve

STEP 1
Put the noodles in a pan of water and bring to a boil, simmer for 3 mins, then cool under running water. Drain thoroughly.

STEP 2
Cut the carrot into matchsticks using a knife or a mandoline. Cut the avocado into strips and the cucumber into thin sticks. Soak 2 of the rice paper wraps in cold water for 1-2 mins until floppy.

STEP 3
Lift 1 sheet of rice paper out of the water, shake gently, then lay it carefully on a board. Place 2 prawns in the center, with a mint leaf between them. Add a strip of avocado, pile some noodles on top, then add a layer of carrot and cucumber. Fold the bottom half of the rice paper over, then fold the sides in and tightly roll it up. Repeat using the second wrapper and soak 2 more to make 2 more rolls.

STEP 4
Make the rest of the rolls up using the remaining 4 wraps and the shredded chicken instead of prawns. Serve the rolls with the sweet chili sauce for dipping.

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