The Wayne County Partnership for Children announced Tuesday they received a grant from the North Carolina Community Foundation for the Spriggles initiative of the Shape NC program.

Shape NC is working to create a statewide health program to ensure that a child’s earliest experiences with food and physical activity promote a lifetime of healthy behaviors.

The Spriggles program is a series of motivational books and activities for children, written by Martha and Jeff Gottlieb, designed to inspire health, nutrition, activity and exercise. The program will be modeled at the Shape NC model early learning center at Wayne Community College and then provided to child care facilities across Wayne County.

“We are pleased to support Wayne County nonprofits through our growing family of charitable funds. We support the Partnership for Children’s Shape NC-Spriggles program of providing health and wellness information to young children in a fun and motivational way,” said Bob Logan, President of the Wayne County Community Foundation.

The Partnership for Children seeks to provide young children with the start they need to become educated, healthy and self-reliant. “Thanks to the NCCF grant we are able to help educate our youngest citizens about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. We know that healthy behaviors start young, and we hope the Spriggles series will get kids excited,” said Charlie Ivey, Executive Director of PFCW.

For more information visit www.pfcw.org or www.spriggles.com