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NEWS
Program steers kids to healthier eating
Seven-year-old Kolten Hatfield and other students line up for red raspberries at Hite-Saunders Elementary School Wednesday, May 20, 2009, in Huntington.
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HUNTINGTON -- Ten-year-old Bryce Smith has never heard of most of the fruits offered in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program that started at his school this year, but one thing is for sure -- he loves grapples.
"I'm just hoping they have them at Wal-Mart," he said.
The grape-flavored apples are just one of many things that have been offered as an afternoon snack to students at Hite-Saunders Elementary School. The school is the only one in Cabell County and one of 30 schools in West Virginia to have the pilot program through the Office of Child Nutrition.
"It's been such a successful program," said Rhonda McCoy, food service director for Cabell County Schools.
Smith said the program has introduced him to new food and he looks forward to the snack time.
"It's very healthy, too," he said.
On Wednesday, the pre-k through fifth-grade students took turns lining up in the hall in the afternoon for red raspberries. As they waited their turn, Principal Brenda Horne tested their knowledge on the day's fruit.
"By the time the year's over, they're going to have a lot of knowledge," McCoy said.
McCoy is hopeful the USDA-funded program will expand across the county. She said 15 elementary schools in Cabell County applied to have the program at their schools next year.
The West Virginia Office of Child Nutrition received $930,738 for the upcoming school year to fund the program, she said.
"We're hoping all 15 of our schools who want to do it will receive the grant money," she said.
The fresh fruit and vegetable snack time at Hite-Saunders began in September and grew from one to three or four times a week.
Horne said the program educates students, families and staff. They've learned when certain fruits are ripe and how to eat fruits such as kumquat -- eat it whole because part is sweet and part is sour.
Many just learned that fruits called "grapple," "kumquat" and "blood orange" exist. When a blood orange went home with one student one day, a parent was surprised by its dark color and thought it was a rotten orange.
The school has had many calls from parents wanting to know where they can find more fruit.
"I've had parents call and say, especially about the grapples, 'Where can we get these?'" Horne said.
Some students found out Wednesday that they also really like red raspberries. Morgan Nagy, 11, said she's learned she loves raspberries and grapples, but she doesn't care for passion fruit.
"It's pretty nice just to be able to come out here and have different types of foods every day," she said Wednesday.
She said in-class activities such as online research also are fun and help her to learn about the food.
Horne said students are being exposed to fruits and vegetables many have never had before -- even things like cucumbers.
"At first when we started, we had a lot of 'No thank yous,'" Horne said. "Now most kids take it and go."
The children are so excited about the new types of fruit, they asked their teachers if they could have fruit as their healthy snack during WESTEST week.
"They love it," Horne said.
She said the program is simple to implement and does not disrupt class or cafeteria time. Foods are easy to prepare because they often just require washing and sometimes putting in a small cup. Students line up for their afternoon snack and take it back to class to continue their lessons.
McCoy said the program is even more important considering the growing problem of childhood obesity. She hopes having programs like the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable program will help students to choose healthier foods now and later.
"We try to take every opportunity to improve our students' health. Part of that is because we have seen an increase in illnesses like diabetes," she said.
McCoy said she thinks the Program really is working as students are going home and asking their parents for fruit, too.
"We're hoping if we can start in elementary schools and encourage healthier eating habits, we can combat the childhood obesity in some way," she said.
