HUNTINGTON -- Cabell Huntington Hospital stepped up to the plate Saturday, providing $80,000 to train cooks in all 28 Cabell County public schools in celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's healthy food program to provide students with healthier meals.

The hospital also agreed to donate another $50,000 to sponsor Jamie's Kitchen, the community kitchen that has been the center for activity during filming for Oliver's reality television show that is scheduled to air next year.

What that means for 12,500 Cabell County school children is a lot less hot dogs and hamburgers and a lot more beef stew, spaghetti and beefy tacos for school lunches.

"To get Cabell Huntington Hospital's support here is an epic moment in the school food revolution," Oliver said in a prepared release. "This is the perfect outreach for any big, local hospital. I want Huntington to be a shining example, and I really dream that in the next two to three years, every school is changed."

Oliver met with local movers and shakers last month to push for the $130,000 in donations to improve the area's eating habits. "Our main job is that when the program leaves, our efforts will live on to serve the people of this community," he said at the time.

"We are excited about the potential of these changes to improve the health of our children, and we are hopeful that this effort will eventually enable Cabell County Schools to serve as a role model for school systems throughout the country," said Brent A. Marsteller, Cabell Huntington president and chief executive officer.

Cabell County Schools provided Oliver's television crew and chef consultants with Sustainable Food Systems access to Central City Elementary School and Huntington High School to search for and implement ways to provide students with healthier meal options without increasing costs.

The program will be expanded to the remaining 26 schools over the next 80 days, said Cabell County Superintendent William Smith.

"We have already found great success working in partnership with Cabell Huntington Hospital on wellness efforts in our school system," Smith said. "With Cabell Huntington's support of this project, I believe we are taking an important step toward making our high-quality food service program a premier model for food programs not only here in West Virginia, but also across the nation.

"They're emphasizing using fresh produce and nonprocessed foods so kids can eat healthier," Smith said. "It's been great."

John Turenne, president and founder of Sustainable Food Systems, has been working with cooks at Central City Elementary off and on since September.

"We're using kid-friendly dishes, but made from scratch," he said. The cooks are using more fresh foods and cutting way back on processed foods," he said.

"Our organization has worked throughout the U.S. and has heard a lot of talk about improving school foods," he said. "The difference we have seen here in Cabell County and West Virginia is a top-down commitment to take action in order to actually make those changes. Let's face it, the current state of affairs in the national school lunch program has evolved over decades to get to where it is now. It needs to be improved and will take time.

"However, with the support and commitment here in Huntington and from the state capitol, we are poised to show others how to begin," he said. "We've created a model in two schools and will roll it out to all 28 by the end of the school year in June."

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