Nutrition Outreach Program
Teaching kids healthy eating habits and how to cook
low cost, healthy meals and snacks.
We offered a
nutrition outreach program in the Fall of 2005.
This program an for 4 weeks with 15 teenagers from the Southside
Boys' and Girls' Club in Tallahassee. The Sauce Boss and a group of Planet Gumbo volunteers taught them about
how to fix fruit with yogurt, veggie soup, granola,pita pizzas and other recipes
that were easy to prepare, inexpensive to buy, and delicious
to eat. The teenagers got to participate in making the demonstration
dishes during the activity, and they also each got a bag of
groceries with the same recipes and ingredients, along with
nutrition information sheets, to take home and share with
their families each week. Lively discussions and hands-on
activities have made this one of the most successful and engaging
outside program offered at the center. Their team leader said
"these kids are a tough group, but you had them interested."
In Spring of 2006, we brought our second Nutrition Outreach Program to Tallahassee's Teen Runaway Shelter, Someplace Else, which offered four hands-on cooking classes coordinated by Su Ecenia and led by instructor Jill Welch, who taught the teens how to cook healthy meals and snacks like homemade chicken vegetable soup, steamed veggies, salads, granola and homemade pizza. A recipe booklet was given to each student at the end of the expanded program, where the residents were often on their way to live independently.
You could start your own program like this in your town. Just contact your local Boys and Girls club or local teen shelter or other youth group. It helps to have a kitchen available to use, but you can do a lot with raw fruits and vegetables. Most organizations love to see volunteers organize activities that will help their teens be healthy. We hope that your efforts would stress healthy foods, with fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy oils (like olive oil), and minimal sugar. We have found kids' addictions to sugar to be their worst enemy to good health. Please let us know how it goes.. |
© copyright 2005