Hidden Valley >> Joan Jacobs was only months away from introducing KC and the Keep Well Kids Club to Lake County schools. Then the Valley Fire struck. The program lost its funding, which was diverted to fire victims. A year passed, Jacobs found more money, KC was getting ready to fly. The Clayton Fire hit. They lost their funding a second time.
But now, six months later, the children’s health program is finally launching, and with a number of donors and endorsements, nothing is stopping it this time.
“Our vision is to create a whole new generation of healthy kids. Our mission is to empower children,” said Jacobs, the program’s creator. “We have an opportunity here to make a difference.”
For six Saturdays beginning on March 4, a program teaching healthy habits — covering everything from nutrition to dental care to hygiene — will take place in the Hidden Valley Lake Activities Center. The lessons include demonstrations and presentations by local health and safety professionals. At the end of the six weeks, the kids each graduate and receive a certificate. The program costs $35 and is open to 25 Lake County children ages 5-9, but scholarships are available for those who cannot afford it.
“It’s in a venue that’s very friendly to children,” said Jacobs. “This will not be a classroom setting. This will be very comfortable, extremely interactive, colorful and fun.”
The whole thing is centered around the island of Keytonia, a fictional place in Jacob’s children’s book, “The Story of KC and the Keep Well Kids Club: The Lost Island of Keytonia.” In the story, a cast of characters travels to the island, where they learn the “keys to good health.” There they discover the villains of the story: bacterionies and virusonies. But there’s no need to worry, because the kids have bags bursting with Consciousness Raising Good Germs, also known as CRGGs, which spin their propellers and distribute positive thoughts.
That’s another significant message in the book — the power of positivity. It’s one Jacobs knows well, having faced setback after setback when it comes to KC and the gang. She might have given up on the endeavor entirely if she’d listened to the negativity. “I guess I’ve been an optimist all my life and positive thoughts are so powerful and so healing,” she said.
Illustrated by Dave Walston, the characters are of every race and gender, with a wide range of interests, like Pheobe, who has “fun with food,” and Rosa, who is clean from her “toes to her nosa.” The hope is that each child will find something to connect with.
The KC and the Keep Well Kids Club program has previously been tested in the Hayward school system, where Jacobs found it to be a complete success. The kids were so enthusiastic about learning the steps to healthy living that the older students were teaching the program to the younger ones.
Through KC and the Keep Well Kids Club, children receive tools for independence. “It’s a matter of kids taking personal responsibility, feeling like they have control,” Jacobs explained. “Rather than being told to brush their teeth, they want to, because they understand why it’s healthy for them, why it’s important.”
This program has been a long time coming. Though the fires created a stall in introducing it to the county, the book actually began back in the early ‘90s, when Jacobs was working as the Marketing Director for Redbud Hospital (now Sutter Lakeside). One blistering night, while she sat in the emergency room, she watched parents and children flow through the doors, ill dressed for the weather. Jacobs realized that while it may be difficult to instil new habits in parents, the children were another story. If she could reach them at a young age, she could affect real change.
Jacobs didn’t have a privileged upbringing, but her mother was adamant about good hygiene and her father always had fresh fruits and vegetables on hand. Every day included exercise. She believes those early lessons on healthy habits are to thank for her well-being today.
“Healthy people are happy people,” Jacobs said. “They have more opportunities available to them, and every child should have that opportunity.”
So Jacobs began writing. But then life got in the way, and KC was set aside. It wasn’t until 2009, when Jacobs was moving, that she stumbled on the manuscript. A friend read it and encouraged her to finish what she’d started. And so she did.
But writing the book was only the beginning, and the road since has not been an smooth one. There were times when Jacobs felt her dream of turning KC and the Keep Well Kids Club into a full-fledged program would never come to fruition. While she never let go of her vision for what it could be, it was expensive and emotionally-exhausting at times to keep going. The pallets of books have been moved more than once due to fires and wet weather. The timing never seemed like it was going to be right.
But then a fateful Christmas party occurred. Jacobs met Connie Stuefloten, the Director of Recreation with the Hidden Valley Lake Association. Stuefloten asked to see the book. She was so impressed that she offered to team up with Jacobs and get the health program off the ground. The few short months since have been a flurry of planning and organizing.
“What’s been the most amazing thing for me, through all this, I learned to believe in myself again, and I realized how much support I had in this community I never realized I had,” Jacobs said. “The people that have come forward, the people that understand this and see it for what it is, it amazes me every day.”
This is a pilot program, and it’s open to change and improvements based on how these first six lessons unfold. The most important thing is getting the kids to the Hidden Valley Lake Activities Center. From there Jacobs and her team will examine what is and is not working, and adjust accordingly.
“It’s new, people don’t know it, that’s why we’re so pleased to have the scholarships to help pay for it,” she said.
KC and the Keep Well Kids Club is also currently working toward becoming a certified 501(c)3 non-profit. They’re introducing Josh the Cool Roo, a kangaroo who loves to recycle. They’re collaborating with various local organizations and county officials to spread KC’s message around the county. It’s ambitious, but the ball is in motion.
With the rising cost of health care, the KC and the Keep Well Kids program could make a substantial difference in the quality of a child’s life. “There’s never been a more opportune time for the county than right now,” Jacobs said. “We have tremendous resources available to us.”
They’ve identified those resources, they’re bringing on ambassadors, the list of donors and endorsements is growing. “People that see this know that the potential is literally unlimited,” Jacobs added. “I’m amazed at how much is here and how many people don’t know about it. There’s a reason I’m here and there’s a reason I’m doing this.”
For more information on KC and the Keep Well Kids Club, visit keepwellkidsclub.com. To reserve a spot in the program, call Member Services at 987-3138.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
