'Veggie Patch' program: Kids scout for healthy food

[fgoodwin]

'Veggie Patch' program: Kids scout for healthy food

 

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070522/MOMS02/705210301

http://tinyurl.com/2prvcy

 

Parents of the Cub or Brownie Scouts who've come to a Wegmans store to earn their "Veggie Patch" have sometimes been amazed: Is this really their child, competing with others to get the cleanest hands or asking for more squash?

 

"That's one of the happy surprises for some parent chaperones," says Nella Neeck, manager of fresh meal solutions at Wegmans.

 

Neeck helped develop the "Veggie Patch" healthy cooking and eating program for scouts.

 

"If kids make a dish themselves, they'll often try something they'd ordinarily reject. It gives you the chance to steer them toward healthier eating choices with more fruits and vegetables."

 

The Veggie Patch program grew out of Wegmans' desire to help families make healthier eating and lifestyle choices.

 

"We brainstormed about effective ways to engage kids and realized that partnering with organizations that already worked with kids made sense," says Neeck. "The Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were both very supportive and worked with us to design a program for their Brownies and Cubs, ages 6 to 8."

 

Veggie Patch classes are now offered at six Wegmans stores in the area: Chili Paul, Eastway, Canandaigua, Penfield, Latta Road and Holt Road. There's a fee of $10 per child, which some troop leaders cover with revenues from cookie or holiday tree sales. Troop leaders can schedule a class by calling Consumer Affairs at 585-464-4760. This year the program will be expanded to select stores in New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.

 

The goal of Veggie Patch class is to make basic nutrition kid-friendly.

 

"We say, eat a rainbow every day, because we want them to be aware that color in food plays a part in the health benefits," says Neeck. "How much? We say, eat five 'fists' a day. It helps children understand portion size. We also talk about what makes foods healthy or not healthy, and tell the story of the Three Sisterscorn, beans and squashwhich nourish each other in the ground as soil partners, and nourish the people who eat these crops."

 

The kids get to cook, but get a hand-washing reminder first. "We do the Glo Germ experiment. The kids apply a harmless gel that glows under black light. Then they wash their hands, and put them under the light again to see areas they missed around fingernails, in between fingers and so on. It's fun and lets us reinforce the importance of starting to cook with clean hands."

 

Kids make spaghetti squash with sauce and cheese, pureed winter squash and roasted winter squash. When they compare flavors, the spaghetti squash is the hands-down favorite. They also make fruit parfaits with five different colors of fruits, layered with vanilla yogurt and granola, and make trail mix to take home, along with a "Healthy Me" booklet of recipes and tracking sheet for eating a rainbow every day.

 

The Veggie Patch that the scouts receive for participation meets many of the requirements for the "Make It, Eat It, Try It" badge for Brownies, and the "What's Cooking?" badge for Cub scouts.

[SSScout]

Sounds like a real benefit to the community! When I first saw the title to this post, I immediately flashed to "Veggie Tales", the cartoon show, but this is even better if one can bring your Cubs to learn about nutrition and the 'other'foods. I love it when big corps like Wegmans put their corporate selves out there for the community. Home Depot will do crafty things for your CSDC, REI will do LNT for your training camps, Trader Joe's will provide materials at a stiff discount or donated depending...Ya just gotta ask far enough ahead for scheduling.

Look for these opportunies and make sure that the media knows about them and how they help SCOUTS along the way.

 

YiS