2025 Healthiest State Annual Award Winner Projects
In April, schools, workplaces, individuals, and healthcare sites were honored for their continued work to improve the health of Iowans at the 2025 Healthiest State Annual Annual Awards presented by Wellabe.
Each winner received a monetary award and, over the past several months, they were able to use their prize funds on projects to continue their efforts to create healthier environments for their students, employees, patients and fellow citizens.
It's time to hear from the 2025 winners to see how they chose to use those funds in their projects across the state!
Clarinda Regional Health Center - Small Workplace
Clarinda Regional Health Center chose to divide its prize funds across the four quarters of the fiscal year to host a series of employee meal prep classes. Each session teaches participants how to plan, cook, and package healthy meals for themselves and their families. Attendees also take home the meals and snacks they prepare, along with a swag bag of supplies to help them continue meal prepping on their own. The first class was a great success and received enthusiastic feedback from participants.
Johnson County Public Health - Medium Workplace
With support from the 2025 Iowa Healthiest State Awards, Johnson County Public Health purchased two brand-new treadmills for its main campus wellness room. During the past year of construction at the administration building, employees voiced their desire for an alternative wellness space when the usual 3rd-floor room was converted into temporary office space.
As the reopening of the 3rd-floor wellness room approaches in early 2025, employees once again shared their priorities through a survey—ranking treadmills as the top replacement need. The new machines arrived at just the right time to keep employees active, energized, and supported in their wellness goals.
Iowa State University - Large Workplace
Iowa State University WellBeing is using its $1,000 Healthiest State Award to kick off a fun, three-year campaign that inspires employees to make healthy choices every day. With help from a communications intern, the team will roll out posters, newsletters, and home mailers featuring fresh messages about physical, social, and mental wellbeing. Starting in late 2025 or early 2026, a new theme will launch every other month covering topics like mindfulness, the 5-2-1-0 program, Adventure2 challenges, financial wellness, and more.
The award funds will help print colorful posters and mailers, while ISU WellBeing covers the rest. Success will be tracked through things like program participation, website visits, and employee feedback. With eye-catching messages across campus, this campaign will keep wellbeing front and center and make healthy living a little more fun for everyone at ISU.
Kelli Gerdes - Individual
Healthy Harvest of North Iowa (HHNI) used the $1,000 award from CG Public Health, through the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative, to advance food access and community collaboration efforts across North Iowa during summer 2025. The funding supported HHNI’s participation in regional planning calls for a North Iowa Community Food Assessment, helping gather and analyze local food access data. It also allowed HHNI to guide and promote a summer volunteer managing a hydroponic vegetable tower at the Clear Lake Public Library—an educational and hands-on project that provides fresh produce for a new “little food pantry” while encouraging community donations of garden surplus and shelf-stable foods.
Additionally, HHNI’s director took part in a regional food access meeting in Wright County, where participants shared resources, developed key collaboration tools, and discussed strategies for continued partnership and advocacy. These combined activities—supported by the CG Public Health grant—helped HHNI strengthen local networks, promote community-driven solutions to food insecurity, and lay groundwork for ongoing initiatives to ensure more equitable access to healthy food across the region.
Blank Children’s Pediatrics - Healthcare
The Blank Children’s Pediatrics Clinic used the award funds of $500.00 towards their food pantry that helps support the families that are served within their clinic.
This small food pantry is supplied through their own staff – and staff chose to use the award money towards stocking these shelves with food items for patients. They have two shelving units in their waiting room areas – and both units are stocked full! They also have two areas of overflow, so they are hoping to keep these shelves stocked for a few weeks.
Kayla Reiter - Youth Power
Kayla decided to use the her prize money to host a ‘Stay Here’ rally at Centennial Park in Des Moines to bring awareness to suicide prevention and inspire other schools to start Stay Here clubs of their own.
Riceville Elementary School - K-12 School
Riceville Elementary has a day planned this semester for a field trip to their local skating rink for all their kids! More information and photos will come soon, but they’ll be using their prize money to get all their students active with a fun school outing!
Loving Hands Early Care & Education - Small Early Care
Loving Hands Daycare used their prize money to purchase a hydroponic Gardyn to make eating fresh fruits and veggies even easier and to bring a new level of learning to their program! So far they have grown strawberries, peas, spinach, lettuce, dragon beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. The kiddos love checking on the Gardyn to see what has sprouted!
DMACC Child Development Center - Large Early Care
The DMACC Child Development Center used their proceeds to purchase a Bijou portable play structure, providing children aged two to five with the opportunity to play and learn.
The Bijou allows children to develop their gross motor skills by climbing the ladder, engaging in social activities while sharing the platform with others, problem-solving as they navigate climbing, or selecting a quiet space for reflection inside the tent. This equipment will greatly enhance their playground by providing a much-needed portable structure.
