Last Friday, I had the honor of visiting North Rose Elementary School outside of Rochester, New York for the launch of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program. Jim Allen, president of the New York Apple Association and Maureen Torrey Marshall, vice president of Torrey Farms, joined me in handing out fresh New York apples to the North Rose students for their morning snack. Also in attendance were representatives from the New York State Department of Education, Cornell University's Wayne County Cooperative Extension, and local town and education officials.
A group of 5th grade students shared with us that they really look forward to the new the fresh fruit and vegetable snacks, each one emphasizing "fresh." Although these students live in the 5th largest agricultural county in New York State, they very seldom have fresh fruits and vegetables to eat at home. With much excitement, students told us about pineapple slices, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, blueberries, pears and other fruits and vegetables that they have enjoyed in the first two months of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program there at North Rose.
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North Rose students enjoy fresh New York apples. |
Nancy Younglove, the school district's food service director, emphasized the importance of the program's opportunity for kids to explore and learn to love a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Mrs. Younglove has introduced the students to tomato salad, broccoli salad, and carrot salad â€" each generating an overwhelmingly positive response from the students. The school faculty and staff were also quick to tell us how their students had benefited.
I was extremely impressed with how enthusiastic the North Rose kids were about their new fruit and vegetable snack. These kids typically eat so few fruits and vegetables, which makes this snack program very special to them. Also Jim and I were ecstatic to see how thrilled they were to receive locally grown New York apples.
North Rose receives $24,750 for the current school year to provide daily fresh fruit and vegetable snacks for its 330 students. It is one of 51 schools funded in New York to implement this innovative program designed to improve child nutrition. Statewide, New York receives a total of $1.7 million this school year, with that funding expected to double in two years and triple to $5.2 million in 3 years. The 2008 Farm Bill provides mandatory funding to expand the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack program nationwide.
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Lorelei with Nancy Younglove, North Rose School Food Service Director, Maureen Marshall, Torrey Farms, Allen and David McClurg, New York Apple Association, Elizabeth Claypool Cornell University Cooperative Extension, and Cindy Miner, Superintendent North Rose-Wolcott Central School District, visit the North Rose Elementary School to see the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program in action. North Rose Elementary School is one of 51 schools in New York State participating in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program. |
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Lorelei enjoys a salad for lunch with students who "created" her salad from their school salad bar. |
I wish all United Fresh members could have joined me last Thursday in California when I had the honor of visiting the Will Rogers Learning Community in Santa Monica. To see the immediate impact of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program was extremely uplifting.
These elementary school students were - and are - so excited about trying new fresh fruits and vegetables and can easily tell you all about what they now like, what they want to have again and what they are asking their parents for at home. The dramatic impact of this program was highlighted over and over throughout my visit. Some things that really stood out for me were:
- A mom who came up to me to tell me that her son - who wouldn't touch a green vegetable- now loves broccoli and eats it every night for dinner.
- A group of students who asked that green plums, Pineapple Pals®, pears, jicama and raspberries be served more often.
- A handful of 5th graders who make salads for each lunchtime visitor to the school from a school salad bar that offered 13 different colorful fruits and vegetables.
- Irma Lyons, the school principal, who told me that the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program had changed the very spirit and atmosphere of the school!
Imagine all of this happening in the first 60 days of this program. A very small investment, $50 per student per year, is not only transforming the lives of these elementary school students and a million other students in elementary schools across this country this school year, but is also feeding valuable revenue into our industry in a tough economic time.
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"Everywhere we walked there were banners thanking us for their fresh fruit and vegetable snack program." |
I encourage all United Fresh members to visit at least one Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program-participating school in their community to personally witness these children as they learn to love fruits and vegetables. Remember, these children are our present and future consumers. Next Friday, I head to Rochester, N.Y. to visit North Rose Elementary School, so please join me if you are in the area.
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First grade and fourth grade students enjoy their fresh-cut spears of pineapple on Monday morning.
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"Fantastic" was the word Belshaw Elementary School Principal Bill Bolio used to describe the school's involvement in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program. Belshaw Elementary students, teachers and nutrition services staff started participating in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program at the beginning of the school year. On Monday, Dr. Lorelei DiSogra, vice president of nutrition and health at United Fresh, accompanied by California Department of Education and school district officials, visited the school, located in Antioch, Calif., to see the program first hand. The group visited both a first and a fourth grade classroom where the snack that day were fresh-cut pineapple spears called Pineapple Pals. The snacks were a hit with the students in both classrooms, who were eager to talk about all of the new fruits and vegetables they had tried in the first month alone - nectarines, broccoli, cauliflower, jicama, plouts, pears, and daikon, just to name a few. The school's snack menus for September and October include a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables and school officials believe it's already benefitting Belshaw's 650 students by helping them increase their fruit and vegetable consumption. Each morning the nutrition services staff spends 45 minutes preparing each classroom's snack and teachers devote 15 minutes mid-morning to snacktime. Belshaw Elementary is only one of more than 100 schools that will be funded in California to participate.
