The Super Bowl is just two days away and the players from the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints are fueling up to play three hours of intense football. These talented athletes have worked hard to perform their best, which includes eating a healthy diet and regular exercise. Professional athletes are not the only ones that benefit from healthy eating and physical activity. Research shows that children perform better in school when they eat healthy and engage in physical activity too.
The National Football League (NFL) knows how important it is to establish healthy eating habits as a child, so those habits carry into adulthood. That’s why the NFL has partnered with the National Dairy Council to develop the Fuel Up to Play 60 program. Fuel Up to Play 60 is a school-based program developed to help students eat healthy and stay active by empowering them to make smart choices about their nutrition and physical activity. You can help contribute to a healthy environment by becoming a Fuel Up to Play 60 school. SNA members can sign up for free wellness kits as well as online access to easy- to-implement activities, which can be used to earn CEUs. Conducting activities to earn CEUs is easy! First, visit the Fuel Up to Play 60 section of the SNA website www.schoolnutrition.org/fueluptoplay60. Click on the CEU activities tab and read about the ways that you can earn CEUs by conducting Fuel Up to Play 60 activities. Next, be sure to register for the official Fuel Up to Play 60 CEU certificate. In order to download this certificate, which is required documentation to earn credits, you will need to answer a few questions about your plans to conduct Fuel Up to Play 60 activities.
Who knows --maybe you will impact the next quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts or New Orleans Saints!
February 4, 2010 - On January 29th, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced the USDA’s decision to purchase $29.1 million in fruit products for the federal food nutrition assistance programs. The purchases will help stabilize markets and prices and stimulate the economy while providing high quality and nutritious foods to schools and food banks. Additionally, these purchases will assist blueberry, pear, potato, peach and mixed fruit producers.
The healthy food purchases will be dispersed through several programs that often provide food to children in need including; the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Summer Food Service Program, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program. The commodities are required to meet requirements specified by the USDA to ensure that they meet government standards.
Agriculture Secretary Vilsack Announces Food Purchases For Domestic Nutrition Programs - USDA Press Release
February 2,, 2009 – During CNIC 2010, a volunteer activity event was held for the second time in the history of the conference. The event took place in conjunction with the 19th Hole Reception where participants were encouraged to bring one small, unwrapped gift item, and form teams to work together to assemble baskets to benefit Wolfson Children’s Hospital in Jacksonville, Fla. Among the items collected were socks, books, stuffed animals, board games, activity books, baby blankets, rattlers, journals, and much more! In excess of 60 baskets were assembled by the meeting participants.
In a letter of gratitude, a representative of Wolfson Children’s Hospital expressed, “Being in a hospital can sometimes be difficult for kids and families. The gift baskets will be a fun surprise for the kids, and give them something to do to help take their minds off of medical treatments.”
Thanks to all of our CNIC participants for your generous efforts. To read a copy of the thank-you letter from Wolfson Children’s Hospital, see related links.
If you were unable to attend this year’s conference, handouts for select presentations are available at http://www.schoolnutrition.org/Level2_CNIC2010.aspx?id=13392.
For those who attended the conference, SNA and EZ Event Photography are offering keepsake print photos of CNIC sessions, events and other conference excitement. Browse over 2,000 images to see if you or your colleagues were captured on camera! To order prints, you can select either print photos (8x10, 5x7 or 4x6) or digital files (via e-mail or CD). To view and order photos, visit www.ezeventphotography.com/login.php , and type in “CNIC” as both the login and password.
Wolfson Children’s Hospital Letter (pdf)
February 1, 2010—SNA’s editorial team asked about the topics that readers want to see in School Nutrition, SNA’s award-winning flagship publication, and you answered. Based on suggestions from readers, February’s feature articles examine issues related to operations, marketing/outreach and SNA.
When it comes to operations, have you thought about whether your district or school would benefit from participating in a purchasing cooperative? If so, or if you’re curious about how this type of arrangement works, “United We Spend, United We Save” provides tips for getting started and advice from operators on maintaining a smooth cooperative system.
Not only are social media vehicles popular for communicating with family and friends, they’re becoming increasingly viable ways for businesses and organizations to communicate messages about a product, service or cause. “How 'Friend' Became a Verb” explores some of the most popular websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as provides a look at how SNA and some of your school nutrition colleagues are using them to share information and messages about the importance of child nutrition.
Does your SNA chapter need some rejuvenation or fresh ideas? In “Charge Up Your Chapter!” some of your SNA colleagues provide inspiration in the form of insights about what has worked in their chapters. If you’d like to freshen up your chapter in the areas of membership recruitment, activities and events and fundraising, this article should help to spark some ideas.
School Nutrition – February 2010