Get in the Action in Your Community

Thanks for deciding to Get in the Action in your community! With other passionate volunteers, you can make a school a healthier place with the kinds of changes that encourage students to stay active and eat healthy foods throughout their lives.

Even though Get in the Action is still in its infancy and we’re learning as we go, we’d like to help you get started. Here’s a handy, Do-It-Yourself Get in the Action toolkit. You’ll find information and templates on everything you’ll need to plan and run a Get in the Action project, from working with schools to recruiting volunteers and promoting the project. There’s even help with fundraising and finding sponsors.

But, if you find you need more information or additional tools, or if you’d simply like to share ideas, please email the national Action for Healthy Kids staff. Either way, have fun and let’s Get in the Action together for healthier schools and kids!

Come Get in the Action with Action for Healthy Kids in Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C.

Planning and Implementing School & Volunteer Projects

• Overview Document – this can serve as a great discussion guide and leave-behind as you are recruiting schools for your project.
• Project Concept Ideas – this document helps you talk with schools about the kinds of projects your group can do for your day of service event.
• Budget Overview – this document provides you with a rough estimate of the cost of your project and items to think of when you are planning your event.
• Sample MOU Template – we recommend that you sign an agreement with the school as you partner together during this project. This template can be edited to meet your needs, but outlines the basics.
• School Project Overview Sheet – once your schools and projects have been identified, this overview sheet provides content to use as you approach volunteers, potential sponsors, and media.
• Volunteer Management Tool – as volunteers are recruited and begin to sign up to roll up their sleeves, this tool can help keep you organized.
• Project Detail – This document can serve as a tool to help plan out the entire Get in the Action event.
• Inventory Sheet – This document can serve as a tool to show the supplies you will need for the projects.
• National Event School Checklist – This document can serve as a guide to help you ask the school the right questions and make sure you have everything you need..
• Possible Criteria to use: This document can help you with things that you can find out from the school to see if they will be a good fit.
• Sample RFP: This document can be used if you want to put out a RFP to schools to select the school you will be working with.

Promotions and Communications Tools

The following are helpful Communications documents to help you Get in the Action! You can customize with local information and contacts.

• Get in the Action Communications Webinar – overview of Communications planning and ideas, including where to find Communications support locally
• Letterhead Template – this document is formatted as a template and will open up a clean piece of letterhead each time you open it. You can customize with a local address in the footer
• Key Messages_local – to help you talk about Get in the Action, in general, and customizable to talk about your local project, in particular
• Get in the Action Announcement News Release – to send to local media to help build awareness and recruit volunteers
• Media Advisory – to send to local media a day or two before the big event
• School Flyer Copy – for schools to send or give to parents or others in the school community
• School Newsletter Article – for use in a school newsletter
• Get in the Action Success Story 
• Public Official Invitation on Letterhead – for use by a school on Get in the Action letterhead
• Public official Invitation – copy to invite public officials for schools to put on their own letterhead
• Sponsor Promotion Form – use this to collect information from each sponsor so you’ll have important information for promotions
• Sample Thank You Sign – this is an example of sign that you could work with a graphic artist/designer to create
• Logo in jpeg format. 

Fundraising and Sponsorship Guide for local events

The following attachments provide a set of strategies and materials for Action for Healthy
Kids Teams to successfully secure funding to conduct Get in the Action events within schools.

Complete guide in pdf format 

Support documents to customize on demand:

• Sample sponsorship packages
• Tracking sheets for prospective sponsors
• Sample outreach letter
• Collateral materials: 2010 success story and results 1-pagers
• Get in the Action Sponsorship Deck

If you have questions or comments about these materials, please contact J.D. Beiting at jbeiting@actionforhealthykids.org