This March, Integrative Nutrition is teaming up with Wellness in the Schools, in honor of National Nutrition Month. For every student who embarks on a new career path at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in March, we’ll donate $100 to Wellness in the Schools.

Wellness in the Schools is a nonprofit, grassroots organization manned by concerned New York City public school parents who believe healthier bodies make healthier minds, and conversely, unhealthy school environments interfere with student health, school attendance and academic achievement. During the 2005-06 school year Wellness in the Schools launched several pilot programs, including “Chef-in-Residence” and “Clean, Green Schools” to promote healthier places of learning for students. Now, Wellness in the Schools offers its program as a model for other classrooms and schools.

Nancy Easton, co-founder of Wellness in the Schools, is an IIN graduate, a Health Coach, a former New York City public school teacher, mentor and principal. She founded Wellness in the Schools with the goal of providing children with the best possible learning environment. Students at Integrative Nutrition are committed to making a difference by improving the health and happiness of their friends, families and communities. We’re so honored and excited to be able to give back in this way.

Dear Friends,

We know that the IIN community is a group of people dedicated to making a difference in the world, but we were blown away by the overwhelming response we received! 

So many of you responded to our call to action and made generous donations—thank you.  Because of your incredible generosity, we collected $25,000 in donations from our community and will match that sum for a combined donation of $50,000 to the Red Cross.  On behalf of each new student who enrolled between January 14 and January 22, we also donated $100 to the Red Cross.

We were inspired by how our graduates mobilized to help the Haiti relief effort:

•    IIN alumni Colleen DeCesare ran a special at her breakfast café in Philadelphia where she collected donations for the Haiti Relief Effort. 

•    Jenny Choi-Fitzpatrick, a 2007 graduate, is working with San Diego-based international humanitarian organization called Project Concern International that is partnering with several aide groups in Haiti to provide immediate rescue and relief services.

•    Dr. Marino, a 2007 graduate, spent one week in Haiti on a medical relief mission with Mt. Sinai Hospital.  As an anesthesiologist, he provided compassionate pain relief & anesthesia to those that suffered traumatic bodily injuries at the National Public Hospital in Port au Prince.

Your generosity will support crucial humanitarian efforts that will aid untold numbers of people affected by the earthquake.  To learn more about how you can help Haiti, visit www.redcross.org or check out this comprehensive list of charities providing aid.  You can keep up-to-date on the crisis in Haiti by following IIN guest speaker Dr. Mark Hyman’s blog while he works to aid the victims there.

Thank you for your heartfelt giving and helping us send relief to the victims in Haiti.

Sincerely,

Institute for Integrative Nutrition

Dear Friends,

As heartbreaking images of the devastation in Haiti fill our screens and our minds, we are asking everyone in the IIN community--employees, students, alumni, and prospective students-- to do whatever you can to help alleviate the immense suffering that is now occurring just hundreds of miles from our shores.

To encourage you to take action, we are offering matching donations immediately. If any IIN employee, alumni, current student or prospective student makes a donation to the Red Cross between now and January 22, simply email your donation confirmation to charity@integrativenutrition.com, and we will match the donation. We delete the receipts immediately and do not hold onto any personal information. We will match up to $25,000 in total donations immediately.

At IIN, we want our students, alumni and prospective students to take action about pressing, urgent issues around the world--and we also want you to know you're part of an organization that does the same.

To that end, in addition to these matching donations, we are also implementing an emergency donation drive through our enrollments. For any enrollment, between today and the end of next week, we will donate an additional $100 to relief for Haiti.

Reach as deep into your heart as you can and donate generously to Red Cross. Send us the receipt to charity@integrativenutrition.com and we will match it, up to $25,000 in total. Haiti needs us, this very day before night falls again on the people in crisis.

Sincerely,

Joshua Rosenthal
Institute for Integrative Nutrition

Please Share this with your friends.

The season for shopping is here.  Masses of shoppers pack the malls and browse online stores to get the best deals on all their holiday gifts.  This holiday shopping frenzy continues through December and then the stores are packed again with consumers returning and exchanging gifts, and looking for even more deals. 

Shopping for the holidays can be time consuming, exhausting, and even stressful.  Deciding on the perfect gift isn’t always easy either.  Here are some ideas to make giving easy and especially meaningful this holiday season.

It's difficult to schedule time with friends and family throughout the year, so buy theater or concert tickets and enjoy the time together.

Museum memberships are great for the art enthusiast on your list.   And gym or yoga memberships are wonderful ideas for those who are ready to get serious about exercise. 

If you have friends who are entrepreneurs, help support them by purchasing from their company or brand.

Make a charitable donation in the name of your friend or family member.  This year Integrative Nutrition is donating $100 for every enrollment to charity on the new students behalf.  You could also sponsor a child through Save the Children or World Vision. 

Giving isn’t just for one holiday, one season, or one day.  Spending time giving love, support, and encouragement everyday to those around you is the most valuable gift you can give.  Even if you give a smile to a stranger on the street you are making a difference. 

What does your holiday list look like?  Please share your ideas for meaningful holiday giving.

Thanksgiving begins the holiday season with traditions of gratitude and giving, gatherings with family and friends and of course, delicious food that we look forward to all year.  However, there are millions of people who are less fortunate, that do not have homes, food or clothing.  This year, to celebrate Thanksgiving, Integrative Nutrition will make donations to Habitat for Humanity and Food For The Poor, two organizations that are dedicated to helping others in need.

Habitat for Humanity has built over 300,000 houses around the world, providing more than 1.5 million people in 3,000 communities with safe, decent, affordable shelter.

Food For The Poor is the number one international relief and development charity in the United States, feeding 2 million people every day. Now celebrating its 27th year of operation, Food For The Poor  works primarily in 17 countries in the Caribbean, Latin America, as well as the United States, to assist the poorest of the poor.

Integrative Nutrition would like to appreciate our community for all that you do.  We are thankful for all the students who are inspired to change the world, the graduates who are out there making a difference, and our teachers, the leaders in the field of health and wellness. We could never do this without you! We are very happy to assist these organizations in their efforts to help others in need. Please consider making your holiday even more meaningful by making a donation or volunteering your time.  

Wishing you good health and abundance this Thanksgiving!
 

Integrative Nutrition will join forces with City Harvest to help provide Thanksgiving dinner for families in the New York Area. This is just a small way of showing thanks for all the good fortune we've had this year. As we grow and expand, Integrative Nutrition is so happy to give back to the community.  IIN and City Harvest share similar values in promoting nutrition education, locally grown food, and preventative health care.  Now serving New York City for more than 25 years, City Harvest is the world's first food rescue organization, dedicated to feeding the city's hungry men, women and children.  This year, City Harvest will collect over 25 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry, including restaurants, grocers, corporate cafeterias, manufacturers, and farms. This food is then delivered free of charge to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City using a fleet of trucks and bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week, City Harvest helps over 260,000 hungry New Yorkers find their next meal.  City Harvest also addresses hunger’s underlying causes by supporting affordable access to nutritious food in low-income communities, educating individuals, families, and communities in the prevention of diet-related diseases, channeling a greater amount of local farm food into high-need areas, and enhancing the ability of their agency partners to feed hungry men, women and children.

City Harvest works hard to provide enough food and turkeys to help the agencies they serve provide Thanksgiving meals to their clients.  They currently provide food to more than 600 soup kitchens and food pantries throughout NYC.  City Harvest is kicking off the annual Daily News Readers Care to Feed the Hungry Food Drive this week. This is an annual citywide food drive that raises nearly 1 million pounds of food during the holidays.

If you would like to contribute to City Harvest please visit their website http://www.cityharvest.org/ to find out more.  Also, please pass this information on to others so they can help too.  Thank you.