The “Snack Ladies” Helping Schools Promote Healthy Nutrition
The old image of kids bringing apples to their teachers has done a 180. Now lots of kids are getting apples (along with other fruits and vegetables, too) at school and learning how to feed themselves better food for thought right along with the rest of their lessons thanks to programs like Pick a Better Snack and Act, a campaign by the Iowa Nutrition Network of the Department of Public Health.
Program volunteers have visited nearly 50 classrooms in 10 DMPS schools since September to offer healthy snacks and teach students about nutrition and exercise. It’s a variation on the proverbial wisdom that if you give somebody a loaf of bread you feed them for a day but if you teach them how to bake you will feed them for a lifetime. In this context the hope is that a “free sample” of healthy snacks the kids may not have been exposed to previously will whet appetites for more and lead to sustained habits.
Each of the schools visited are also participants in the SNAP-Ed nutrition program, which provides programs aimed at teaching SNAP (formerly Food Stamps) recipients to make healthy choices consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPlate programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Two AmeriCorps HealthCorps members, Mary Wold and Tori Paris, have spearheaded the DMPS effort to educate students about food as fuel. They’ve been nicknamed the “Snack Ladies” by students in grades K-3 who’ve enjoyed learning about healthy behaviors, getting physically active and tasting a variety of healthy snacks including: tropical fruit smoothies, avocado, cauliflower ‘popcorn,’ artichoke/spinach kabobs and strawberries with yogurt dip.
The Snack Ladies also launched lunchroom activities to link nutrition education with school lunches and encourage students to eat the fruits and vegetables provided in their school cafeterias. They have secured funding to expand two school gardens. They have also helped with after school girls’ groups and the After School Arts Program culinary classes. But they’ve had some help, too.
FoodCorps representatives Daniel Shultz and Mauricio Rosas-Alvarez have encouraged healthy habits across the district by visiting 70 elementary classrooms throughout the year and the district’s nutrition specialists Anita Turczinski and Lyn Jenkins have also been making the rounds to promote nutritious snacks and exercise.
Look for the Snack Ladies this summer at the district’s Summer Food Service Program sites and at the annual Jump Start Back to School Health Fair which will be a great wrap-up to their service term at the end of July. Before they both head back to school themselves in pursuit of Masters Degrees in Public Health.
