WinterKids of Maine received a $1,000 award from the Bangor Savings Bank Foundations recently.

The organization was a write-in winner for the greater Portland/Lewiston/Auburn area in the Bangor Savings Bank Community Matters More contest. The award will strengthen the mission to help children develop healthy lifelong habits through fun outdoor winter activities.

"Thanks to the votes of many fans,", said Fran Mullin, WinterKids Executive Director. "WinterKids appreciates the financial support of generous sponsors like Hannaford Supermarkets, TD Banknorth, Time Warner Cable, and Healthy Maine Partnerships and contributions from many people. These donations help more children get outside, get active and have fun in the winter."

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WinterKids sees increase in Passports
In a press release from Fran Mullin, Executive Director of WinterKids, Fran is very excited about the news that WinterKids has already reached more children than last year in ALL of the programs, and according to Mullin, last year was a record-breaking winter!

Here is what she has to say about the WinterKids program:

By Fran Mullin, Executive Director

The WinterKids Passport program has been a success for the 2007-2008 season. The program is for 5th, 6th and 7th graders.

We received very positive feedback from parents of the 725 children in preschool through 4th grade who tried cross-country skiing and/or snowshoeing with the brand new WinterKids FunPass. The FunPass gives younger children the opportunity to get outside on beautiful groomed trails at over 20 locations # for free! The Passport and FunPass are excellent ways for families to be active, stay healthy and have fun together.

Last summer, we revised and updated our school curriculum and renamed it the WinterKids "Guide to Outdoor Active Learning" (GOAL). This season, we trained 154 teachers and provided 240 teachers with "GOAL" resource guides so that they can meet state academic standards while getting students active and taking the classroom outside.

In our effort to reach children at younger ages, WinterKids also developed a popular new "Guide to Outdoor Active Learning" (GOAL) and training program for Preschool teachers. Like the GOAL for elementary educators, this preschool resource guide provides age-appropriate educational lessons that make learning fun and active for the littlest students.

In 2008-2009, WinterKids Active Academics Workshops reached 1570 students in schools - 13% more children than last year's epic season. Our Active Academics Workshops are hands-on, on-site demonstrations of how educational - and fun - it can be for students when teachers incorporate outdoor physical activity into their regular lessons. Kids LOVE learning about nutrition by matching foods to the proper food groups... while running on snowshoes!

WinterKids also helped 500 children of immigrant and refugee families learn to be safe and healthy, and enjoy cold weather activities like sledding, with the "Welcome to Winter" festival and outreach program. (That's a 54% increase over last season!)

Since WinterKids wants all children to have opportunities to get outside, get active and have fun in the winter, we are recruiting volunteers to help promote these exciting programs to kids, families and schools all over the state of Maine. For more information or if you want to join the fun, call WinterKids at (207) 871-5700, or log onto www.winterkids.org

Ski and ride safely. Use your head and don't forget to wear a helmet. It may save your life.