Terre Centre Elementary Launches Salad Bar

“I’m so glad we have this salad bar!”

Chicken, cheese, oranges and greens, with a splattering of Italian dressing, were on the plate of this Terre Centre ES student, one of the first through the line for their new salad bar which opened November 2. Cafeteria staff were delighted to see plentiful amounts of greens, fruit and vegetables on the trays of students moving through the line for their hot entrée. FCPS Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) has teamed up with Real Food for Kids to pilot these salad bars and will proceed with a full elementary school expansion.

Terre Centre is the fifth of 18 salad bars opening this school year in FCPS elementary schools, following Vienna, Lynbrook, Mount Vernon Woods and Gunston. Aldrin is slated to open November 16 and Riverside before the Winter Break. Within five years, all elementary schools will have salad bars, thanks to the vision of new FNS Director, Rodney Taylor (see related story below).

Prior to the official launch, students spend some time with Christie St. Pierre, a member of the FNS staff to be trained on how to use the salad bar. While that may seem a no-brainer, the students need to become familiar with a few safety rules – one squirt of hand sanitizer before you get your tray – use the tongs, not your fingers – don’t take more than you think you will really eat, because you can’t put it back.

“I’m so excited we have this salad bar!” exclaimed one student as he squirted dressing on his apples and chicken. Similar enthusiasm was heard around the room, including delight from one gluten intolerant student who is now able to self-select foods she can eat. A number of brown-baggers chose to buy lunch at Terre Centre’s launch following the training so they could check it out “for real,” and were very pleased with the choices.

The New Good Food Guy at FCPS

Rodney Taylor is Changing up the Lunch Line at Fairfax County Public Schools

Rodney Taylor and Real Food for Kids share the belief that when kids eat better, they do better. Since being named Director of Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) for FCPS in 2015, Taylor has been tossing aside old notions of pre-packaged, preservative-laden school food to introduce items that are fresh, local, and appealing to even the pickiest eaters, supporting the science that there’s a direct correlation between food, behavior and learning. And he’s just getting started. Here are some highlights:

Real Food for Kids Salad Bars have opened in five elementary schools (see related story above), with a total of 18 planned by the end of the school year. By 2020, all 142 FCPS elementary schools will have salad bars brimming with colorful fruits and vegetables beckoning students as they enter the cafeteria.  Salad bars are compliant with the National School Lunch Program and can be chosen as a full meal or supplement to a hot entrée.

A Signature Line of salads and sandwiches was introduced over the summer and now provides FCPS employees with the opportunity to order affordable, high quality meals that are delivered to their school or central office location.

Pink Polystyrene is out and Environmentally Friendly is in. The pink lunch trays have been replaced with eco-friendly versions, reducing the school system’s carbon footprint and supporting a healthy planet on which all those great new fresh fruit and vegetables are grown.

Stay tuned to the RFFK Blog and social media for ongoing developments.

BREAKING NEWS: 1st RFFK Salad Bar Opens – 140 More to Come!

It was a packed house at the Vienna Elementary School cafeteria on May 23 for the opening of the first Real Food for Kids elementary school salad bar in Fairfax County. Kevin Concannon, Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition & Consumer Services at the USDA was on hand for the ribbon cutting celebration.  (Watch the video now!)

“Fairfax County Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services Department is excited to be teaming up with Real Food For Kids™ to launch the first of 141 elementary school salad bars,” said Rodney Taylor, Director of Food and Nutrition Services for Fairfax County Public Schools. “The RFFK salad bar will serve as the catalyst for transforming school food throughout FCPS.”

Additional salad bars are expected to roll out at elementary schools across Fairfax Country during the 2016-2017 school year. Stay tuned for more details on this exciting program and how you can help!

RFFK Taste Test: Look at Me I’m Celery

It was tall and green and crunchy-and a great big hit! Real Food for Kids Alexandria City held a very successful celery taste tests at both John Adams Elementary School and Mt. Vernon Community School. The students loved the celery so much volunteers had to dash out to get more! Many thanks to the parents who participated. 

RFFK Supports DC Greens at Annual Benefit

The Real Food for Kids Board attended the second annual Spring Dig Benefit Dinner to support our partner DC Greens. The dinner was held at Washington’s Union Market. DC Greens uses the power of partnerships to support food education, food access, and food policy in the nation’s capital.

Love Your Health Art Contest Winners Announced! From the East Cobb County Council PTA in Marietta, GA

Congratulations to the Love Your Health art contest winners! The East Cobb County Council PTA, in conjunction with Real Food For Kids, recently wrapped up its Love Your Health art contest for students from the 35 elementary, middle, and high schools in the East Cobb Council area. Students were tasked with creating an image that conveys their interpretation of how they love their physical, mental, or nutritional health – and just in time for Valentine’s Day! The first place winner in the 6-12 grade category goes to senior Isabel Lopez, of Sprayberry High School, and Thulsy Krishnan, 6th grader at Simpson Middle School, with second place. Congratulations to 5th grader Hector Orduz-Zuniga of Davis Elementary, first place, and to 2nd grader, Colleen Cao of Mt. Bethel Elementary, second place in the K-5 category.

A special thank you goes out to Lisa Cleary, Community Engagement Manager, of the Cobb County Public Library System for partnering on the beautiful display in the Children’s Area of Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road in Marietta). Be sure to stop by the library to view all of the entries for primary grades K-5 until March 1st. The secondary grades, 6-12, entries will go up and remain on display March 1 – March 15.

Thank you to all of our East Cobb schools’ art teachers for encouraging and inspiring our students to participate. And a special thank you to Judith Condon, CCSD Visual Arts Supervisor, for being a great partner in communicating to art teachers and collecting the entries.

Thank you to Real Food For Kids, our sponsor, for the prizes for our winners. We also extend our gratitude to our wonderful judges who took the time to view every entry and give us their expertise – Dr. Emily Anne Valle, Georgia SHAPE Project Manager, Dr. Angela Huff, CCSD Chief of Staff, and Meryl Manfre, CCSD Arts Advisory Board Member and Art Center Coordinator, The Art Station – Big Shanty.

As contest judge Dr. Vall commented, “This contest was a great way to weave health and wellness content into art. Creativity and being able to express yourself is such an important part of growing up.” For questions regarding the contest, please contact Jennifer Saboura at health@ecccpta.org. Thank you to all who participated!

Advocate For Better School Food

Originally published in November 16, 2015 issue of Our Children – National PTA’s Unique Voice For Parents

Several years ago, a parent approached me at a PTA meeting with concerns about the school lunch program. He wanted to know if the PTA at our school would take a serious look at it. I really didn’t know anything about school food but I had a personal interest in fitness and healthy eating, so I believed it was worth our attention.

Fast-forward several years. I have learned a lot about our national school food program. There is not an easy solution. It is a system with cost constraints, logistical issues and complicated nutritional guidelines. Schools may lack the training or equipment they need to be successful—or the support of the community.

 Creating change in our school food program takes a lot of drive, determination, patience and understanding. But change can happen.

Rachel Stott, a parent in Vienna, Va., says, “I was very happy to hear the 26-ingredient burgers served in the school cafeteria were replaced with a 100% beef burger! This meant that my child—who has a severe soy allergy—could safely eat it, as it no longer had soy protein in it. Cleaning up the food makes a big difference for children with allergies.”

 Here’s how concerned PTA parents can advocate for better school food:

1. Educate yourself about school food. Learn what you can about how the school food program works at your school, your district and in our country. Have lunch at school with your child (more than once).
2. Determine your ask. Simply saying, “improve school food” is not enough! You must determine what is important to students and parents in your particular program. Be specific in your request so that it can be addressed.
3. Collaborate with stakeholders. Build relationships and partnerships to determine similar goals. Gather support with parents at PTA meetings. Meet with your principal. Get his or her views on wellness and the vision for the school environment.Meet the school cafeteria manager and the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) director for the district. Work together to make changes, improve quality/taste and to help increase sales for the cafeteria.Discuss the importance of a healthy school environment with the school board. Try to bring this issue to the top of their priorities list.
4. Keep it positive! This point cannot be stressed enough. You are asking FNS to make change. This is not the forum for demanding change in loud voices. For sustainable change, it is essential to have a trusting relationship.

 Making the effort to improve the foods our children eat is well worth it.

 Student Nikki Pope was elated when a fresh food bar was put in her school, saying, “It provides a really great option for students who want a wider variety of healthy choices at school. I stopped bringing lunches from home most days because I really like the taste and selection of food that my school offered, and it was as healthy as food I would bring from home.”

 There are some general areas of improvement you can recommend to your school district:

• Add a salad bar. Salad bars provide a wider assortment of fresh produce, which is one of the biggest requests I have received over the years. Request that all the food served on the bar is fresh. Kids like fresh food!
• Remove harmful additives from school food. There has been a lot of progress in removing additives from certain foods at grocery stores. We now need to make sure manufacturers know that parents want foods free of artificial additives, dyes and preservatives from school food, too.
• Transition to more freshly made meals. Depending on the type of equipment in your school kitchen, start a discussion with the school nutrition team to determine ways to bring in more freshly prepared foods and remove highly processed foods.
• Promote healthy choices in the lunch line. Follow the Smarter Lunchroom Movement principles for layout and display. Remove items like cookies from point of sale.
• Get students engaged in school food. Make learning about fresh food fun! Have the PTA support programs such as Farm to School, Food Day and taste tests. Start a school garden that is incorporated into the curriculum in several subject areas. Help launch a student nutrition club.
• Support healthy fundraisers. Show the FNS team that you support their efforts by making sure all food choices available during the day are healthy options. Get healthy fundraising ideas on the National PTA website. This includes food available for sale in vending machines after the school day ends.

 JoAnne Hammermaster

Real Food For Kids – Georgia Hosts a “Healthy Body, Healthy Minds” Nutrition Series

Real Food For Kids – Georgia just completed a series of nutrition talks called the Healthy Body, Healthy Mind series. The premise of the series was focused on proper nutrition so students can be healthy, happy and strong to promote their success at school. With all the pressure on students today in so many areas of their lives, it is imperative that they feel good every day to tackle these challenges.

Jill Gregory, Board Certified Nutritionist and Certified Personal Trainer, led the discussions that focused on two main areas: menu planning (always a struggle for busy families!) and how to fuel for academic and athletic performance, or “F4P”. She discussed the importance of balancing food with proper macronutrients and micronutrients to maintain energy throughout the day and reduce cravings.

Real Food For Kids – Georgia partnered with the East Cobb County Council PTA  for the educational series. “We wanted to reach out to students, parents, teachers, and coaches to discuss a basic food strategy that will help with mental clarity, increased performance, and stabilized energy throughout the day,” expressed Gregory. “We were very pleased that the Food and Nutrition Services Department for Cobb County Schools joined us for our October 13 event, so they could tell parents about all the steps they are taking to create a strong meal program.” Parents were given an opportunity to ask questions. Whole Foods was on hand for a food demonstration and tasty bites for all attendees. “We are so happy to be working with Whole Foods to help share the message about whole, real food for healthy bodies. We thank them for their support,” commented JoAnne Hammermaster, co-founder and chairman. “We are now working on a possible teacher-enrichment program through Whole Foods to give teachers  at a selected high school new ideas and tastes for their busy lives. We hope to launch the program this year.”

Whole Foods Supports Real Food For Kids in Georgia!

When Real Food For Kids’ former executive director, JoAnne Hammermaster, found out she was moving to the Atlanta area, she was shocked. After working for so many years in school food reform in the metro DC area, it was hard to leave the great team and relationships behind. But after getting settled, she realized she could not stop her passion for improving school food. Welcome Georgia to the Real Food For Kids’ network!

RFFK GA has been working over the past year to learn about issues particular to the region, parent sentiment, and student preferences. Hammermaster noted, “I am very excited to meet people from all over the state that are concerned about school food. We have some strong food and nutrition services directors that are doing amazing things.”

RFFK GA was recently honored by Whole Foods to be selected as the recipient for their 5% Day, where they donate 5% of their net sales to a designated non-profit. The group will use the proceeds to fund educational programs and projects. They are hosting three Healthy Body Healthy Minds series in September and October in the Marietta area that focus on how to fuel our bodies with balanced macro and micro nutrients to maintain energy throughout the day and to reduce cravings.

Thank you, Whole Foods, for being a partner in the health and well-being of our children!

Real Food For Kids Hosts 1st Annual Teen Taste Sense-ation Event Held at Cooper Middle School

Real Food For Kids held its 1st Annual Teen Taste Sense-ation at Cooper Middle School on March 26th for 85 8th graders.

Master sommelier Kathy Morgan and acclaimed mixologist E. Jay Apaga combined to create a fantastic workshop to encourage kids to become more adventuresome and curious consumers of foods and beverages.

Kathy put together a slide show that addressed the “tongue map” where the primary taste receptors are located on the tongue, and other specifics concerning taste and flavor, while E.Jay created 11 different infusions. Both Kathy and E. Jay Apaga then walked the kids through each taste enlisting reactions, comments and connections.

The program was well received by the students and visitors in the attendance that day. Some of the favorites were: Fresh lemonade- not too sweet with a good balance of sweet and sour, and the Ginger lemonade with background notes of heat and zip!

A huge thank you to Kathy Morgan, E. Jay Apaga and Cooper Middle School for all of their help with this very successful program!