Jump ropes donated to local schools

Village Properties partners with American Heart Association to deliver 1,000 jump ropes

As some elementary schools continue with distance learning, in-person education isn’t the only thing that students are missing out on.

They have also been without recess. Combined with a surplus of screen time as students learn from home, many could be falling short of their daily physical activity goals.

With this in mind, Village Properties recently donated 1,000 American Heart Association Kids Heart Challenge jump ropes to four local elementary schools.

The AHA recommends that kids between 6 and 17 get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity on a daily basis. The jump ropes will be added to the students’ lunches this week at Adams, Cleveland McKinley and Santa Barbara Charter schools aimed at helping meet this goal.

Renee Grubb, owner of Village Properties, helped deliver the jump ropes on Thursday. She told the News-Press that the local schools were very appreciative of the donation. Adams School principal Kelly Fresch was so excited she even opened a package and started jump roping herself.

“It was a really fun afternoon,” said Ms. Grubb, a long-time supporter of the AHA.

“I’ve just always thought if we can give each child as much help as we can to get through school, to learn as much as they can, they’re just going to be better citizens, they’re going to be happier, they’ll get better jobs, and hopefully a lot of them will go off to college,” she explained. “I just think that our youth are extremely important.”

With so much downtime in recent months due to the pandemic, Ms. Grubb hopes that the donation will help kids exercise and remain healthy.

Ms. Grubb served as the board chair for the Santa Barbara AHA chapter until earlier this year. When the COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread closures, AHA decided to close the local chapter. That didn’t prevent Ms. Grubb from continuing to assist.

Village Properties has been involved with countless events over the years with the AHA. The real estate agency would have a team participate in the annual heart walk, and Ms. Grubb has also been involved with the group’s “Go Red” campaign.

She also has a personal appreciation for the work done by the leading voluntary health organization focused on heart and brain health.

Ms. Grubb’s father had heart disease and her mother suffered from a stroke. The AHA is known for providing guidance on both these ailments, teaching people how to identify if someone is having a stroke, while also educating people on how to prevent a stroke and heart disease.

“They’re the place to go when you need that kind of information, and they just do so much proactively for both the heart and strokes. It’s just been one of those things that I’ve felt I needed to give back to,” Ms. Grubb said.

The recent donation isn’t the only endeavor Ms. Grubb is involved with to help local schools.

In 2002, The Village Properties Teachers Fund was established to assist local teachers with the purchase of supplies, materials and equipment needed for classrooms. The group has given out more than $1 million since its inception, including exceeding its $50,000 goal a year ago.

The Teachers Fund fundraiser for this year is underway, only this time online.

Last year, the group hosted a golf tournament and hosted teachers and gave out prizes. The pandemic prevented the group from holding an in-person event this year, so all events are conducted via Zoom, Ms. Grubb explained.

More requests have been submitted by local teachers this year, and the Teachers Fund helped provide items during the summer. Teachers were in need of software to adapt to distance learning, such as headsets, iPads, or even computers.

“We’ve been funding a lot of those over the summer just to help the teachers get set up for their school year,” Ms. Grubb explained.

The fundraiser is aimed at helping teachers receive all the items they need. To learn more, visit https://teachersfund.org.

email: mwhite@newspress.com