Twelve years ago, Afya Baltimore Inc. (ABI) opened its first school to a group of 125 6th graders in Belair-Edison. Now with two PreK-8th grade schools and more than 1500 students from across the city, ABI’s mission remains the same— to teach our children how to live healthy, balanced lives: intellectually, socially/emotionally, and physically. Afya means health in Swahili. Finding and teaching the balance between these three areas of our mission is what we call The Afya Way.
In Baltimore, our city, too many children face tremendous challenges: trauma, poverty, crime, violence. Too often these children are not given the opportunities they both deserve and need to lead successful and healthy lives. This is where our schools and our mission come in! Students thrive at our schools — The Belair-Edison School and Tunbridge Public Charter School — in a learning environment that is positive and effective; in schools that are welcoming, safe and engaging; and with health and wellness at the heart of everything we do. But, as the late poet Stanley Kunitz says, we need to do More! More! In order to do more, we need your help.
It’s no secret that physical activity, play, and good nutrition positively impact our overall health. In unique and innovative ways, our schools aim to provide these opportunities for students. Limited public funding, which has been declining in recent years, has made it increasingly difficult for ABI Schools to provide the comprehensive array of health and wellness programs that we know will have the biggest impact on our kids. And that’s where you come in! The ABI Schools Health & Wellness Initiative is a five-year plan to raise $500,000 to assure we have the physical and nutritional programs in our schools that we know are essential. You can help our students do More! More! More playing outdoors in naturally beautiful play-ground spaces. More exercise rooms indoors for our PE classes. More gardens where students can grow and then eat healthy foods. More kitchen equipment and programming to teach students to cook and bake. More training for our teachers to implement instruction related to wellness. More opportunities for families to join together in fitness, fun, and fellowship.
We invite you to support our schools through a financial donation so we can do More, More, More to support our students and The Afya Way. Your generosity will be deeply appreciated.