Makana Macomber loves tae kwon do, and he was recently rewarded for it.
That was one of many activities that earned him 58 stamps during summer vacation this year as he participated in the Cruzin’ Covington Passport program.
“When school was over, in the envelope we got a small book that said ‘Cruzin’ Covington Passport,’” said Macomber, a third-grader at Horizon Elementary School, which is two miles from downtown Covington and part of the Kent School District.
Macomber, 9, covered the spectrum of healthy summer activities, and as a result won a $250 gift card to Wal-Mart.
Winning the gift card came as a surprise, and when he got it he wasn’t quite sure what he would do with it.
His mom, Blossom Caballero, said he spent time at the library and they ate healthy at local restaurants.
“He was actually very interested in it,” Caballero said. “He said, ‘Mom, mom! I want to do this.’ He made sure that every place we went, I had the passport.”
“I did lots of things like outrigger canoe paddling and tae kwon do,” Macomber said.
Macomber is a perfect example of what the organizers of the program were hoping youngsters would do with their vacation. A partnership spurred by the Coalition for a Healthy Community developed the program for local students to eat healthy, play hard and learn more.
The coalition teamed with the city of Covington and with sponsors MultiCare and Valley Medical Center, as well as dozens of businesses throughout Covington that handed out health-related information. Pam Kramer, one of the program’s organizers, said pamphlets were available at more than 30 businesses.
For every healthy choice they made, kids got a stamp in the passport, and every youngster who turned in a passport at the end of the summer got a Cruzin’ Covington drawstring backpack and was entered into drawings for prizes.
The passports also featured a calendar of events and activities during the summer months and a list of participating destinations.
The program was a part of a larger community effort to get kids to develop healthier habits throughout their lives. Last school year, students at Covington Elementary School were part of a related pilot program. Many of the lessons for students there about food and fitness — like how much sugar is in soda and chocolate milk or how many cookies are in a serving — were part of the program.
