Success Stories
Celebrating Washington, DC’s first Gold Award of Distinction in USDA’s HealthierUS School Challenge
I had the pleasure of celebrating the top notch achievement of the Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School as USDA Under Secretary Kevin Concannon and District of Columbia State Superintendent of Education Hosanna Mahaley presented this great school with a HealthierUS School Challenge Gold Award of Distinction. The award represents the highest honor a school can achieve in the Challenge and they couldn’t have done it without the committed leadership and staff at this special school. This school is truly a role model and the award puts them on the map as the first school in the nation’s capital to earn the Gold Award of Distinction. E.W. Stokes is a diverse pre-school and elementary school providing instruction in two languages. Their unwavering commitment to sharing the benefits of physical activity and making good food choices is evident in everything they do!
Hunger Doesn’t Take a Summer Vacation, and neither does the Riverside Unified School District
Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) Nutrition Services Director, Rodney Taylor, knows the face of hunger in his community. On a daily basis, Rodney’s team serve lunch to about 34,000 RUSD kids, 61 percent of whom qualify for free or reduced price meals. While the RUSD staff offer these students a fresh, healthy, nutritious meal during the school year, where do students eat during the summer? In previous years, many students ate lunch at summer school. However, steep budget cuts in 2008 and 2009 forced many school districts, including RUSD, to drastically reduce their summer school sites to only three schools, leaving about 25,000 kids without a place to eat. Without the summer school program, where would those kids eat? That is where the RUSD's summer barbeques come in.
Celebrating the Western Regional Office Summer Sunshine Award Winners!
Summer Food Service Program – in the middle of winter?
That question is a common one when we talk about the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). During the school year, many children receive free and reduced-price breakfast and lunch through the School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs. What happens when school lets out? Hunger is one of the most severe roadblocks to the learning process. The Summer Food Service Program is designed to fill that nutrition gap and make sure children can get the nutritious meals they need.
California Chef Partners with Local Elementary School for Chefs Move to Schools Program
Earlier this fall, in conjunction with International Chefs Day, Chef Melinda Burrows had the opportunity to team with Fremont Elementary School in Alhambra, California, to help launch their Chefs Move to Schools program.
They did so in grand style. With three school assemblies focusing on harvests, the popular event centered around chef-led demonstrations featuring spaghetti squash, pumpkins, and other varieties of healthful foods.
Chef Helps Special Needs School Children Explore New Foods
Morning Star School for special needs children in Orlando, Fla., is enjoying a culinary experience they’ll never forget thanks to First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Chefs Move to Schools” initiative and local Chef Jamie McFadden. To the student’s joy, McFadden visited the school and shared cooking projects that their team had just completed. Chef McFadden relayed that the children were a delight and engaged, as their time together focused on fresh fruits and vegetables, food safety, and sanitation practices. Thus far, the students have explored apples and pumpkins, and have learned about the history and origins of the foods they enjoy.
Chefs on the Move to Help Improve Child Nutrition
Last June, First Lady Michelle Obama along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched a call to action for chefs across the nation to join the battle against childhood obesity. The program, called Chefs Move to Schools, helps to partner chefs with local schools in their communities as part of the Let’s Move! initiative. Since June, we have seen chefs and schools across the country form new friendships and develop delicious meals in an effort to improve nutrition.
Success Story: Let's Move Gets Musical in Massachusetts!
In New Bedford, Massachusetts a group of teenagers is putting its passion for the outdoors into music, using catchy beats and smooth moves to persuade other young people to get moving outside. As part of the Youth Ambassador Program (YAP!) at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, these young people – the “Yappers” is their recording name – share their experiences learning about and exploring their city through creative media. In their latest music video, inspired by the First Lady’s Let’s Move Outside initiative, the Yappers call upon their peers to get up, and get going: “Don’t be a couch potato; just get up off your feet. Go play a game or two and keep on rocking to this beat!”
PALling Around With The Police Athletic League
First Lady Michelle Obama traveled to Harlem, NYC to check out an innovative partnership between a local elementary school and the Police Athletic League (PAL). I knew we were close to our destination when I saw throngs of people outside on the streets waving at our cars. Entering the Police Athletic League’s Harlem Center, we saw 75 kids in matching t-shirts waiting for us. The First Lady's visit was a surprise and we heard screams of delight as she entered the gym.
DC-Area Youth Achieve PALA and Meet the President and First Lady
On November 29, 2010 President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama congratulated 18 athletes from the KEEN Greater DC affiliate of Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN) and 39 students from Maury Elementary School for earning their Presidential Active Lifestyle Awards (PALAs) at a special gathering at the White House.
Switch What You Do, View, and Chew
A unique concept combining nutrition with improving play and exercise opportunities for children recently earned recognition from the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition.
