Sign up is free and easy! Join now for immediate access to great tools and tips that will help make our children’s generation a healthier generation!
Read More
West New York School District - West New York, New Jersey
Passionate about providing healthier foods in his district and beyond, Sal Valenza, food service director for West New York School District decided to host a “Healthier Food Fair” to bring vendors together to demonstrate their healthier school food options to the broader school community audience.
Open to school wellness council members, food service directors and other stakeholders from New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, the event took place on October 15, 2009 at West New York Middle School. The goal was to use this as a forum to spread the word about healthier options provided by the vendors and to create a networking opportunity for schools and districts.
Valenza used the Food Fair to help him determine which products to purchase to fill the schools’ vending machines, a la carte lines and even to round out school meals. Knowing that the demand for healthier items is there he said, “This was a venue to share with our community and other districts and schools that the healthy products are out there and the vendors are supportive.” Participants sampled a variety of foods including fruit-based muffins, organic meats, non-par fried potato products, packaged and naturally flavored apple slices and sparkling juices. Everyone left the event with bags of samples and information to bring back to their schools. At a meeting in New Rochelle the following day, Alliance staff was greeted with exclamations about how useful the Food Fair was while product samples were spilled out onto the table for all to taste.
To organize this hands-on event and to ensure that all foods provided by the vendors were compliant with the Alliance Guidelines, Valenza tapped into the Alliance’s Industry team, Competitive Foods & Beverage Content Manager, School Nutrition Manager and the New Jersey Relationship Manager. The Alliance also helped promote the event to its school and state contacts. Alliance staff was present at the Food Fair to participate and engage in dialogue about the Healthy Schools Program, relevant Framework criteria and Alliance Guidelines.
The Healthier Food Fair event has had a great impact on those who attended and since the food fair, attendees have been taking action. Ali Olin, Supervisor of Special Services with Elizabeth School District in Elizabeth, New Jersey said, “Learning about all the healthy food options available to kids today was amazing! It provided ‘food for thought’ on ways to aid the children in establishing a lifetime of healthy eating and wellness.”
Resources & Tools | Contact Us | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Web Linking Policy
© 2010 Alliance for a Healthier Generation