Four local agencies are working together to fight childhood obesity.

The Albert Lea Family Y, Albert Lea Medical Center, Freeborn County Public Health Department and Albert Lea School District have started a collaboration and now have a boost from Pepsi in the form of a $2,500 grant.

“If we can teach children to be healthy and well, that will carry through with them into adulthood and allow them to make correct choices in their lives,” said Family Y Executive Director Dennis Dieser.

This was the fourth year Dieser applied for the grant, but the first time it was awarded to the Family Y.

“It will allow us to do a lot of positive good in the community,” he said.

Recently, the Albert Lea Medical Center received a $5,000 grant from the Kenneth W. Olson Charitable Foundation Fund of the Minnesota Community Foundation, according to Director of Community Relations Patty Hareid.

Both grants will go toward efforts to fight and prevent childhood obesity. In the past 30 years, obesity has risen nationwide from 6.5 percent to 18.8 percent in children between the ages of 6 and 11, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

“It is an epidemic that is pretty widespread across the country,” Dieser said.

Addressing childhood obesity is crucial for many aspects of the child’s life.

“There’s a lot of ties to obesity,” Hareid said. “It’s not just how you look or your activity level.”

She said healthy living helps kids concentrate in school and improves mental health besides the obvious benefits.

Families and schools, according to the American Obesity Association, are the two most critical links to providing healthy behaviors for children.

With the two grants, plus any others to come in the future, the collaboration will pursue efforts to reduce childhood obesity in Freeborn County. The collaboration between the four agencies is still in the planning stages, according to Hareid and Dieser.

A group of representatives from the Family Y, ALMC, Public Health and the school district met in the spring and will resume again in the fall, Dieser said.

One idea, he said, is for childhood obesity prevention to be worked into the elementary schools’ family fun nights. There could be a station for kids to partake in fun exercises — possibly including active videogames — and booths with information for parents on eating habits and healthy lifestyles.

“That will be a great way to impact a lot of families immediately,” Dieser said.

Another idea Dieser had, he said, is a kids’ triathlon in the summer where entrants would swim a few laps, bike a short distance and run a mile or less, “to really get some excitement in youth as far as health and wellness goes.”

Hareid said she has looked into ideas to treat and prevent childhood obesity and is taking some hints from communities that have done similar projects.

ALMC got involved, she said, because “of course for us it’s a natural — it’s health care.” However, part of a community relations committee looks at charitable contributions for the hospital, and this year the group wanted to do something proactively.

The group wanted “to find a need in the community that we can work with other partners in the community to address so we can get more impact,” Hareid said.

And a big part of the charitable contributions are budgeted for youth initiatives, she said.

“It can’t work without all the partners,” Hareid said. “It does work when everyone’s involved.”

Pepsi’s donation comes as part of its Smart Spot program for health and wellness. It is one of 400 grants going to YMCAs across the country with a total gift of $1 million.