We are so grateful for the support of The Bingham Program, a charitable trust who’s partnership is crucial to the development and growth of the WinterKids Winter Games. To learn more about why they support programs like ours, we connected with Director, Morgan Hynd for a quick Q&A. Here’s what she had to say…
Tell us more about the Bingham Program’s work to improve health in Maine and how WinterKids fits into this framework.
The Bingham Program is a charitable trust held at Tufts Medical Center. We’ve funded work in Maine since 1932 to promote health statewide, but particularly in rural areas of the state. For the last 15 years, Bingham has led an initiative to build awareness of the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on long-term health outcomes and how positive childhood experiences (PCEs) can reduce the impacts of ACEs on a person’s life.
There are several reasons that the WinterKids Winter Games fits into our work. We love that the program is statewide and gets into many rural communities that often have fewer resources for improving children’s health. We also love that the curriculum for the Winter Games focuses on health promotion through fun physical activities that kids may do for the rest of their lives. Finally, we especially love that the Winter Games creates more opportunities for positive childhood experiences for thousands of our little ones every year. These experiences truly have a positive life-long impact on the health outcomes of Maine children.
What has been your favorite part of the WinterKids Winter Games?
In addition to being a funder of the Winter Games, I’m also a school board member of RSU #40. Prescott Memorial School in Washington, one of our district’s elementary schools, participated in the games in 2019-2020. I was able to attend a school-wide Winter Games event in January of 2020 that started inside as a pep rally and ended with a parade around the school grounds, culminating in front of the school for a photo of the whole student body. I was so proud of the enthusiasm of all the students and teachers. Little did I know that Prescott would go on the be the Gold Medal winner of the Winter Games that year! Prescott pride – go Pandas!
Many thanks to The Bingham Program for all they do for WinterKids, and for the state of Maine! To learn more, visit binghamprogram.org/
