By Kate Rugani | Project Leader
Fresh slices of watermelon. Or candy. Faced with a sweet choice, which will kids pick?
Watermelon!
We put the two to the test at a couple of the open houses that Durham, NC, elementary schools hosted this fall. Open houses are great opportunities for parents, students and teachers to meet each other and learn from the organizations and community partners that support the kids while they're at school. Unfortunately, they're usually laden with candy and other junk food.
This year, though, was different: Farmer Foodshare teamed up with our partners at DINE (Durham's Innovative Nutrition Education) to offer something healthy, fresh and local!
When folks arrived at Merrick-Moore Elementary and Club Boulevard Elementary, they were greeted with a "Watermelon Welcome." It was so fun to see kids lining up for fresh, North Carolina-grown watermelon from Whitfield Farm in Smithfield and bypassing the traditional bowls of candy and other processed food.
While parents and kids savored the juicy watermelon slices, we shared an update on how Farmer Foodshare is delivering fresh, North Carolina-grown produce to their school cafeterias each week, along with taste tests that encourage the kids to learn about and sample it. Ms. Sharon and Ms. Glenda -- the cafeteria managers at Merrick-Moore and Club Boulevard -- also used the opportunity to sign folks up for free and reduced lunch! That's important, because when more families participate in school meals, schools have more funding to spend on quality food.
Thanks for investing in programs that help kids thrive. Your support of Fresh, Local Food for North Carolina Students makes it possible to introduce kids to fresh food in all sorts of school settings -- experiences that can influence the choices they make as they grow.
This Giving Tuesday and throughout the 2019 giving season, we hope you'll continue to support innovative programs that make it possible for people throughout our communities to eat well and support local farmers.
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