Robert Oliver was sitting at his desk in a comfortable office on Wall Street one day when he decided he wanted out. Maybe it was the satisfaction he got from his experience as a semi-professional soccer player nagging at him as he worked in the corporate world, but he decided that he wanted to do something different.
“I was privy to some disgusting things going on, and the [financial] industry really soured,” Oliver said. “I decided to make a career change.”
Before Oliver’s career-changing epiphany, he worked as a trader during the day and coached youth soccer in Secaucus by night.
“I had been playing semi-pro soccer in North Jersey and a guy on my team got me in touch with someone in Secaucus about coaching,” he said.
“It’s great every day waking up and being excited about what you’re doing.” – Robert Oliver, CEO of FAN4Kids
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“Along the journey, a close friend of mine said that I should do something about child obesity in America,” Oliver said. “At first I didn’t take him seriously, but the whole next week I saw article after article about the issue.”
Oliver began to do research, and with the help of a small group of friends, he decided to start a non-profit organization. He named it FAN4Kids. FAN stands for “fitness and nutrition.” Oliver has since moved to Brooklyn but maintains FAN4Kids in Hoboken to keep ties to the town he lived in for 18 years.
Six years later, FAN4Kids has attracted the attention of some large corporations. The organization recently received $20,000 in grant money from Coca Cola.
After Oliver receives funds, he employs part-time instructors to work side by side with teachers in physical education classes, as well as in classrooms, to teach kids about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle.
“Everything that we do is fitness and nutrition education in schools,” Oliver said. “All dollars that come to our foundation are focused on expanding our education.”
A local start
FAN4Kids has worked with the HOPES Head Start program in Hoboken, and said he expects to continue the work with them in January.
“We started in Hoboken in 2004,” Oliver said. “We worked with all kindergarten through fourth grade classes in the entire city, but then funding dried up there a little bit.”
Oliver has expanded his programs to urban areas east and west, into Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Newark, where funding was available.
The program has a very hands-on approach.
“We have an instructor that goes into a school and teaches weekly fitness and nutrition classes,” Oliver said. “The content switches each week: one week nutrition, one week fitness. It alternates.”
Oliver said physical education teachers do not feel like their toes are being stepped on when FAN4Kids comes into town.
“Surprisingly, all the physical education teachers in the six-year history have embraced it,” Oliver said. “One of our fears in the beginning was they would feel threatened.”
Oliver said the relationship is more of a partnership.
Several instructors are former college athletes, as well as people who simply live active healthy lifestyles, according to Oliver.
To trade in the suits for sweats may have made a dent in his wallet, but Oliver believes it’s worth the sacrifice.
“It’s great every day waking up and being excited about what you’re doing,” he said. “Some of the paper work and political stuff, well, who likes to do spreadsheets and budgets? But anytime I get a little down all I need to do is go see a class, and see the excitement in the kids’ faces and witness the education that’s going on to see the hard evidence of the program.”
A daunting task
Fighting childhood obesity is no easy task. Oliver believes the trick is to teach the children at a very young age. The majority of his students are below the fourth grade level.
“We’re not the obesity medical organization that only treats children that are overweight,” Oliver said. “We’re here to teach the baseline education so we catch them before they turn into young adults. We want them to be educated on simple decisions such as if they’re going to have a soda, have an 8-ounce soda instead of the 20-ounce. Also, make sure that on weekends they make it a priority to exercise.”
New studies have indicated that increasing obesity in children can bring on a greater risk for heart disease and diabetes in adulthood. A study published on CNN indicated that the obesity rate in America is currently 33 percent, and if trends continue, it will reach 42 percent by 2050. First Lady Michelle Obama visited Newark schools earlier this month to discuss the importance of eating healthy, especially for school children. Thirty one percent of New Jerseyans were overweight in 2009, which is near double what the rate was in 1999, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Still, it sounds as if Oliver has the right answers and solutions for the daunting tasks in front of him.
“I remember teaching a class in Harlem and the kids were getting antsy,” Oliver said. “So, I challenged a student to a push up contest. It really engaged them and got them excited.”
The organization was recently featured on a local television channel.
As obesity rates continue to rise, this Hoboken based non-profit organization has made stopping childhood obesity their mission.
Ray Smith can be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com.