From apples to zucchini, children at select
schools in Monmouth and Ocean counties can look forward to more fresh fruits
and vegetables on their snack trays this fall, thanks to a State Department of
Agriculture grant.
About 155 schools in 18 counties, including
Lakewood’s Early Childhood Centers 1, 2 and 3 and Long Branch’s West End
School, have been awarded thousands in grant funds through the state Department
of Agriculture’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, the state announced Monday.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has allocated $3.9 million for the state
program.
The program provides funds for districts to
purchase fresh produce and offer nutrition education.
At Lakewood schools, where more than 80
percent of children receive a free lunch because of their families’ income
level, the roughly $175,000 grant will expand the program to the district’s
youngest students, says Armida Caldwell, food services director in Lakewood
schools.
Caldwell, who is a general manager at
Gaithersburg, Md.-based Sodexo food services, says the district has turned
bagged snacks into education, from geography lessons on the fruits’ places of
origin to math problems that involve counting the fruits. Healthy snacks
offered have ranged from asparagus and broccoli to Asian apple pears and
Jicama, Caldwell said.
“Sometimes there isn’t the money to buy the
fresh produce at the grocery stores – the most inexpensive food to buy is the
processed food, the chips, the cookies,” Caldwell said, adding the district
tries to buy locally whenever possible. “This program will expose them to it,
they’ll grow a taste for it.
“We’ll even hear from the teachers that the
students will know things in the produce aisle now and ask: ‘Can you buy the
broccoli, mom?’ ” Caldwell said. “They make better choices outside of school,
too.”
Nearly 3,600 district pre-K through
sixth-grade students will now be served by the program, Caldwell said,
including at Clifton Avenue Grade School and Ella G. Clarke Elementary school.
Almost 76,000 students statewide will benefit
from the program this year. Last year, 143 schools in 16 counties were served,
according to the state.
“The program has changed the school
environment for the better, with children at one school we visited referring to
the fresh produce as ‘treats,’ ” said Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H.
Fisher in a prepared statement. “It is a hands-on way of teaching students
about good nutrition and creating good food habits that will last them a
lifetime.”
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