New England Dairy and Food Council Funding
Supports Nutrition and Fitness at St. Albans City School
by: Mitch Craib, Wellness Coordinator
January 2015
For over six years St. Albans City School (SACS) has been working hard to expand and improve its nutrition and exercise programs. Considerable help in that mission has come from Jill Goodroe and the New England Dairy and Food Council in collaboration. During each of the past six years St. Albans City School received grants of $4,000 through the Council’s umbrella health promotion program called “Fuel up to Play 60”. This program gives equal support to improved cafeteria nutrition with an emphasis on local dairy products and to enhanced opportunities for movement outside of physical education and recess.
Fuel up to Play 60 has paid for a large cart for serving oatmeal with healthy topping choices. It has funded a surround-sound system for the cafeteria so that music can be played to get kids moving at meal times. And, it has underwritten smaller items like hoola hoops and bean bags for lunch time games. Most recently, the New England Dairy and Food Council’s funds were the first we received to help us install the ½ mile walking path around our athletic fields.
Fuel up to Play 60 has also funded efforts to widen student’s healthy food consumption experiences. There have been numerous taste testing opportunities, sometimes combined with a tropical, rodeo, Mexican or Chinese celebration theme. Specific foods served at various times have been a variety of cheeses, pineapple, mango, cauliflower and broccoli offered with dips, yogurts served with maple syrup, and a range of flavored tofus.
Fuel up to Play 60 has underwritten the cost of guests brought in to inspire children into moving at lunch times. This purpose has been accomplished by having cheerleaders, athletes and fitness instructors lead meal time physical activities. Bands and DJs have also visited with the task of getting kids dancing. All of these initiatives have shown that movement can be fun and exercise appealing.
Our latest grant of $4,000 has just been awarded. This year $2,000 will go towards an industrial capacity smoothie making machine and hundreds of washable cups. Our hope is that foods like smoothies will make breakfast “cool” as well as healthy, thereby giving students a great start to the school day. St Albans City School is a Universal Breakfast school, which means that every child is welcome to enjoy a breakfast when they arrive at school, regardless of family income. This service is only possible when participation is high enough to justify federal funding assistance and tasty smoothies should boost appeal for our school breakfasts.
The second $2,000 from Fuel up to Play 60 will go towards two new pieces of fitness equipment in our fitness room. Not all children thrive in a traditional physical education classroom setting and, to accommodate different ways of learning, our school has established a sizeable fitness room stocked with donated and grant funded fitness equipment. The New England Dairy and Food Council is committed to helping us add sturdy exercise ergometers to our fitness room selection. The plan is to apply future Dairy and Food Council fitness funding to more exercise equipment. Our fitness room is a commitment to fitness that we are proud of, and growing this commitment is important to us.
We are honored and grateful to have the continued support of the New England Dairy and Food Council. Their commitment to St. Albans City School is making a big difference in the lives of our students.
Fuel up to Play 60 has paid for a large cart for serving oatmeal with healthy topping choices. It has funded a surround-sound system for the cafeteria so that music can be played to get kids moving at meal times. And, it has underwritten smaller items like hoola hoops and bean bags for lunch time games. Most recently, the New England Dairy and Food Council’s funds were the first we received to help us install the ½ mile walking path around our athletic fields.
Fuel up to Play 60 has also funded efforts to widen student’s healthy food consumption experiences. There have been numerous taste testing opportunities, sometimes combined with a tropical, rodeo, Mexican or Chinese celebration theme. Specific foods served at various times have been a variety of cheeses, pineapple, mango, cauliflower and broccoli offered with dips, yogurts served with maple syrup, and a range of flavored tofus.
Fuel up to Play 60 has underwritten the cost of guests brought in to inspire children into moving at lunch times. This purpose has been accomplished by having cheerleaders, athletes and fitness instructors lead meal time physical activities. Bands and DJs have also visited with the task of getting kids dancing. All of these initiatives have shown that movement can be fun and exercise appealing.
Our latest grant of $4,000 has just been awarded. This year $2,000 will go towards an industrial capacity smoothie making machine and hundreds of washable cups. Our hope is that foods like smoothies will make breakfast “cool” as well as healthy, thereby giving students a great start to the school day. St Albans City School is a Universal Breakfast school, which means that every child is welcome to enjoy a breakfast when they arrive at school, regardless of family income. This service is only possible when participation is high enough to justify federal funding assistance and tasty smoothies should boost appeal for our school breakfasts.
The second $2,000 from Fuel up to Play 60 will go towards two new pieces of fitness equipment in our fitness room. Not all children thrive in a traditional physical education classroom setting and, to accommodate different ways of learning, our school has established a sizeable fitness room stocked with donated and grant funded fitness equipment. The New England Dairy and Food Council is committed to helping us add sturdy exercise ergometers to our fitness room selection. The plan is to apply future Dairy and Food Council fitness funding to more exercise equipment. Our fitness room is a commitment to fitness that we are proud of, and growing this commitment is important to us.
We are honored and grateful to have the continued support of the New England Dairy and Food Council. Their commitment to St. Albans City School is making a big difference in the lives of our students.